Supreme Court Puts Obama’s Clean Power Plan on Hold

“Tonight’s Supreme Court decision has delayed the implementation of the Clean Power Plan while we are running out of time to combat climate change”, said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth Action.

The plan called for a one-third reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from USA power plants by 2030.

Montana is one of 27 states suing to halt implementation of Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Arkansas, which relies more heavily on coal-fired power plants than most states, would have to prepare a plan to reduce its emissions by 36.5 percent.

The delay lasts at least until a federal appeals court in Washington rules on the plan, probably later this year after it hears arguments in June. In November, he appointed an advisory council to begin shaping a plan and to justify extending to 2018 the deadline for submitting that plan.

The high court action is an early and potentially significant blow to a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s climate plan. The Clean Power Plan is the centerpiece of the American commitment to the agreement reached there. “Electric Utility Generating Units,”…is stayed pending disposition of the applicants’ petitions for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and disposition of the applicants’ petition for a writ of certiorari…

The Environmental Defense Fund expressed disappointment in the court order.

The court has not ruled on the merits of the plan by the Environmental Protection Agency, but has prevented the EPA from putting its plan into place until legal issues are resolved.

Eighteen states, mostly led by Democrats, opposed the request for a stay, saying they were “continuing to experience climate-change harms firsthand – including increased flooding, more severe storms, wildfires and droughts”. They argued that the rule would hurt them in irreversible ways during the litigation process.

Four members of the court, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissented and said they would have allowed the EPA to continue enforcing the rule during the court battle. Various business groups joined in asking for the stay.

Republicans in Congress late a year ago voted through two so-called disapproval resolutions on the emissions rules, dealing a largely symbolic yet blunt rebuke to Obama.

The court has rarely sided with Texas on environmental matters while Obama has been in office.

Opponents of the rule were elated at the decision by the justices.

The Supreme Court case centered around the ability of opponents of the Clean Power Plan, which included Southern Co., Peabody Energy Corp., and the US Chamber of Commerce, to make the case that there was a “fair prospect” that businesses would have to spend billions to comply with regulations that may be later undone by the courts.

Obama unveiled the rules before the Paris climate talks in December.

The White House said in a statement that it disagreed with the court’s decision and remained confident that it would ultimately prevail.

This story was last updated at 10:20 p.m.