Fight to Keep EPA’s Clean Power Plan Alive Intensifies in Federal Court
A coalition of 24 states and localities have urged a federal court reviewing the merits of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan to stall the agency’s recent motion to suspend a case challenging the controversial rule.
West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 15-1363) is arguably the most important set of environmental cases in nearly a decade. For the U.S. power sector, the stakes are particularly high. The sector has grappled with uncertainty about the Clean Power Plan’s future since the Supreme Court issued a stay of the rule on February 9, 2016.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case before an en banc panel on merits of the EPA’s controversial rule on September 27, 2016.
Twenty-seven states are challenging the legality of the rule finalized by the EPA under the Obama administration. They are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.…