A federal appeals court in Washington has denied a motion to block the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan, which seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the country's power generation industries by 32 percent over the next 15 years.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the petitions filed on behalf of 27 states, three labor unions, several electric cooperatives and various industry and trade groups, did not meet the legal standards to block implementation of the plan that largely snubbed the nuclear power industry by excluding existing nuclear power plants that states might otherwise use to claim credit for complying with the order.
A spokesperson for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity Laura Sheehan said legal challenges to the Clean Power Plan were not over. “Today's decision by the lower court is the first of many legal steps that will take place in the coming weeks and months as we seek to overturn Obama's costly power plan,” she said.
The court challenges include more than 100 parties consolidated into a case pegged as State of West Virginia, et al., v. EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency). Prior to that consolidation, 24 states, lead by Texas and West Virginia, merged their complaints into one petition, while three other states, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Mississippi, filed their own complaints.
The lawsuit were filed in October when the order took effect. The consolidated lawsuit claims the Clean Power Plan is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion and not in accordance with law.”
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement that, “we are pleased that the court has rejected the petitioners' attempts to block the Clean Power Plan from moving forward while litigation proceeds.”
“We are confident that the plan will reduce carbon pollution and deliver better air quality, improved public health and jobs across the country,” he said.
Six cities, including the District of Columbia, 18 states, one county and various environmental groups have joined the EPA in support of the plan that has been incorporated into the United Nations' Climate Control accord reached in Paris last year.