Supreme Court stay of EPA plan vindicates McConnell, for now

The Court put a “stay” on the Clean Power Plan, but did not issue any opinion or make any determination on whether the Clean Power Plan is legal under the Clean Air Act. The union members rallied against proposed EPA Clean Power Plan rules, which the union claims will eliminate thousands of coal industry-related jobs.

States that support efforts to curb climate change will still be able to press ahead with their plans.

A hearing is set for June in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. As states continue their everyday work to ensure reliable, clean and safe energy for Americans, their planning can continue in the direction of compliance, as the electricity power sector continues to evolve. McCarthy says she “remains fully confident in the legal merits of this rule”, and claims the Supreme Court’s stay “doesn’t mean they spoke to the merits” of the CPP.

According to a report from CNN, the Supreme Court blocked the Obama-led Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan after 29 states pursued legal action against the rule that aims to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan underpins the United States emissions reduction commitments under a global climate deal agreed by 195 governments in Paris last December.

“I was a little bit surprised because the Supreme Court issues a stay very sparingly and only when specific criteria are met”, says Jarrett.

Almost two-thirds of new US generating capacity in 2015 was from renewable sources, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reported last week in its latest Energy Infrastructure Report. The Clean Power Plan is not forcing a trend; it is simply following one that is already in place and picking up steam.

The coal mining industry is in trouble and the Supreme Court holds the industries fate in its hands.

The momentum behind clean energy keeps growing and this pause of the Clean Power Plan won’t slow it down. But the American political and legal process is nothing new to observers outside of the USA, said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy with the Union of Concerned Scientists. As we outlined in a report released late past year, our strategy gives us a pathway to meet our climate targets, even as the Clean Power Plan makes its way through the courts.

Meyer said some of his colleagues expressed concern over a “repeat of Kyoto” where the world “accommodated the U.S.” in the design of the agreement only to see the US not implement it. “But there’s also awareness of the big differences between now and then”, Meyer added.

The Supreme Court’s stay will have implications beyond the Clean Power Plan.