US Supreme Court blocks Obama's Clean Power Plan

OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2016.  The US Supreme Court today put federal CO2 limits for power plants on hold until lawsuits against the regulations are resolved.

The court late today granted requests filed by dozens of states, utilities and industry groups to stay implementation of President Barack Obama's signature effort to address climate change during the litigation. The order effectively puts the regulations, known as the Clean Power Plan, on hold for at least a year while the litigation plays out.

The order will remain in effect until the case reaches the Supreme Court.

The order will terminate once the Supreme Court either declines to hear the case or issues a decision, should it agree to review the regulations.

According to the order, the court's four liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan all would have denied the stay requests.

Opponents of the regulations, including 27 states and more than 80 utilities and industry groups, had asked the Supreme Court to block implementation of the Clean Power Plan after the DC Circuit Court of Appeals last month denied their requests for a stay. The states and utilities say they will be harmed immediately by the high costs of implementation and are likely to prevail in the main litigation pending before the DC Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Clean Power Plan requires each state's power sector to meet CO2 targets for 2022-2030. Under the regulations, states had until September to filed initial compliance plans with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and seek a two-year extension to file final plans.

The appeals court, which has jurisdiction over legal challenges to EPA regulations, agreed to set an expedited schedule to hear the dozens of lawsuits that have been filed against the Clean Power Plan. The court set oral arguments for 2 June.