If you’ve been holding your breath for finalization of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan model trading rules, you probably should stop doing that. The rule was expected to be completed this month, but an updated timeline posted on the EPA’s website now lists the projected finalization for December. The agency adjusts timelines like these on a fairly regular basis.
The comment period for the rules ended in late February. The Clean Power Plan requires states to develop action plans to meet federally set emissions reduction targets. The model rule will serve as a federal implementation plan for states unwilling or unable to submit their own strategy. It may also serve as a starting point for states working on their own plans.
The rules provide models for two emissions trading programs, one rate-based and one mass-based.
The Clean Power Plan is the focus of an enormous legal challenge pitting 27 states and numerous trade organization, electricity generators, and utilities against the EPA. The Supreme Court in February halted implementation of the rule until after the legal challenge has been resolved. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Sept. 27 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
The EPA has continued to work on the model rules and a related incentive program under the Supreme Court stay, saying that progress on those items is not related to implementation and is not affected by the ruling. With the shift in the schedule, the rule will not be finalized until after oral arguments in the lawsuit, instead of before as would have been the case under the original timeline.
