Supreme Court halts Obama’s clean power plan

In a surprise procedural decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court put the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan on pause while a lower court reviews it.

Several companies across the states have also commenced their transition from coal-fired electricity to cleaner, renewable energy despite the Supreme Court ruling.

And it’s likely that Kennedy’s will be the decisive vote, as it has been in so many important cases during his long tenure on the court. On Jan. 21, the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet joined with other states and stakeholders to submit comments to the EPA regarding the Federal Plan Requirements for Greenhouse Gas Emissions and implementation of the Clean Power Plan.

“I’ve repeatedly invited (EPA Administrator) Gina McCarthy and the president to my home state to see the devastation firsthand”, McConnell said. “It is unprecedented, but we don’t think it is the last say and the Supreme Court even said it is a temporary stay”.

In Washington, Gina McCarthy, Obama’s head of the Environmental Protection Agency, told state energy and environmental regulators that the ruling “is not going to slow us down”.

The power plant regulations seek a nationwide 32 percent reduction in carbon emissions from power plants by 2030.

Although the CPP is stalled, the EPA says regulating carbon dioxide through the Clean Air Act will stand up to court scrutiny.

The Obama administration asserted Wednesday that a Supreme Court order delaying enforcement of its new clean-power rules will ultimately have little impact on meeting the nation’s obligations under the recent Paris climate agreement.

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry issued a statement celebrating the court’s action, saying the plan would result in utilities increases and would cost billions of dollars to implement.

The Clean Power Plan was supposed to be a big win for environmentalists and the Obama Administration. Rather, it’s about protecting coal-mining jobs already endangered by competition from plentiful stores of cheap natural gas unleashed by the shale fracking boom.

The Supreme Court has taken a step toward reining in an out-of-control bureaucratic agency that runs roughshod over existing law and constitutional authority.