Clean Power Plan opponents bring challenge to Supreme Court

February 9th, 2016 by Dakota Software Staff Industry News

Plenty of activity has surrounded the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan (CPP) in recent weeks. Opponents of the plan have explored outside avenues to dismantle or overturn it due to a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia against an implementation proposal of environmental regulations until existing challenges are resolved.

In addition, 25 CPP-opposing states have filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court to block its implementation as the short-term stakes have risen. If this motion fails, there will be no subsequent legal recourse for the opposing group to pursue while other legal challenges against the actual content of the plan move forward. These short-term challenges to prevent quick implementation may have limited value in general, however, the D.C. Court of Appeals instructed that any further appeals be expedited, according to industry news source Power magazine.

An ongoing battle

The push from the anti-CPP states to prevent implementation while other challenges are contested is reaching a climax. AL.com, a state news source in Alabama, reported that the state's attorney general, Luther Strange, hopes the Supreme Court will do what all the other courts have not.

"Once again, President Obama has attempted to radically expand the power of the federal government by adopting policies through executive action that Congress has refused to enact," Strange said in a press release shared by AL.com. "But the scope of President Obama's job-killing Clean Power Plan is unprecedented. If this new EPA rule is allowed to go into effect, it will shutter coal-fired power plants around the country, resulting in higher electricity costs and fewer jobs."

It's worth noting that the first series of deadlines for states under the Clean Power Plan are fast approaching. According to AL.com, the initial deadline to submit state-level implementation plans is set for Sept. 2016, although a provision in the rules allows states to request extensions instead of providing a plan. If states fail to act, a federal plan could be implemented for them. No matter the source of the changes, there's little doubt such alterations to environmental compliance rules will have a major impact on many states and the businesses that operate inside them.