GHG Daily
1/29/2016
A slew of new petitioners has joined West Virginia and its coalition of 25 states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants. Additional stay applications have been filed by 16 trade organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; 61 power utilities, including Basin Electric; and coal interests including Murray Energy and Peabody Coal. Chief Justice John Roberts has asked the EPA to respond to the applications by Feb. 4.
The new applications come on the heels of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals order denying a stay of the rule, which requires states to develop action plans to meet federally set, state-specific carbon emissions reduction goals. If the stay is granted, the rule will not go into effect unless it survives legal challenges. Petitioners argue that over the course of what could be a lengthy legal battle, states might have to invest billions of dollars to come into compliance with a rule that could eventually be overturned. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the petitioners did not meet the requirements needed to grant a stay.
Regardless of what Roberts decides on the stay applications, the attached legal challenge to the rule will first be decided in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
