The Clean Power Plan — a plan to regulate carbon emissions from coal-firing power plants nationwide — was created by the EPA and backed by the Obama administration in an attempt to combat global warming.
“Given the current state of politics, (the Clean Power Plan is) arguably the most important single federal action that’s happened to our climate in our history,” said Dave Rogers, state director of the environmental advocacy group Environment North Carolina.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the Obama administration disagrees with the Supreme Court’s decision, according to a statement.
“(The plan) will deliver better air quality, improved public health, clean energy investment and jobs across the country and major progress in our efforts to confront the risks posed by climate change,” he said.
The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision to delay the plan until its legality could be determined after 29 states and state agencies, including North Carolina, filed a lawsuit to suspend it. The case will be heard in the D.C. Circuit Court in June.
“I have no doubt that the EPA’s Clean Power Plan is lawful and is justified under the Clean Air Act. The Supreme Court itself has recognized the need for the EPA to regulate carbon emissions,” said David Neal, staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Delaying the plan is an unprecedented move for the Supreme Court — a plan like this has never been delayed without a decision first by a lower court, Neal said.
“It has not been the Supreme Court’s role to stay a rule when no court has had a chance to assess it, especially a rule like this one when compliance didn’t begin until several years out,” he said.
