GHG Daily
2/5/2016
Requests filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by 26 states, 16 trade organizations, 61 power utilities, and others to immediately stay the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants are without merit, according to a document filed with the high court Wednesday. “Applicants seek a stay before any court has expressed a view about, let alone rendered a final decision concerning, the merits of their legal claims,” the EPA response says.
The requests were sent to Chief Justice John Roberts days after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a stay of the rule, which requires states to develop action plans to meet federally set, state-specific carbon emissions reduction goals. If the stay is granted, the rule will not go into effect unless it survives legal challenges. Petitioners argue states might spend billions of dollars to come into compliance with a rule that could ultimately be overturned by the Supreme Court. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the petitioners did not meet the requirements needed to grant a stay, but did approve an expedited schedule for the legal challenge to the rule, with oral arguments beginning June 2.
“Such intervention [by the Supreme Court] is especially unwarranted in light of the nature of this case and the D.C. Circuit’s considered decision to deny a stay and expedite its review. On the merits, applicants’ challenge to the Rule implicates complex questions of statutory interpretation and environmental policy. Congress has channeled the review of nationally-applicable [Clean Air Act] regulations to the D.C. Circuit, which accordingly has specialized expertise on relevant CAA programs,” the document says.
Regardless of what Roberts decides on the stay applications, the attached legal challenge to the rule will first be decided in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
