A federal appeals court in Washington could spell trouble for President Obama’s climate change agenda, as it reviews a request by a coalition of states and business groups looking to halt controversial climate change rules ahead of a major climate change conference in Paris.
The rules in question, called the Clean Power Plan, were published in the Federal Register Friday after months of delay, triggering multiple lawsuits in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The rules were finalized Aug. 3.
Industry officials say the delay in publishing the rules in Friday’s Federal Register was part of a stalling tactic by the Obama administration to ensure a court stay would not interfere with the president’s plans for a successful climate change deal in Paris in December. The Clean Power Plan provides the basis for the U.S.’s obligations on greehouse gas emissions cuts when countries begin meeting at the end of November to hash out a climate deal.
“This unprecedented delay is either indicative of major flaws that needed to be corrected in the final rule or an attempt to avoid the imposition of a judicial stay while U.S. diplomats are in Paris for the next major climate conference,” said Scott Segal, director of the Electric Reliability Coordinating Council, representing utilities opposing the rules.
If the court stays the rule in a month, as states’ attorneys general in Friday’s suit want, it would come a few days ahead of the president’s trip to Paris.
“The publication delay is about three times longer than other major EPA rules finalized in 2015,” Segal said.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is leading a 24-state coalition that petitioned the court Friday, told reporters that he expects the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington to act quickly in fulfilling states’ request to stay the rule — effectively putting it on ice — until it reviews the legality of the regulations.
The states both filed a lawsuit and joined industry groups in asking for a stay Friday in the federal court. The states were waiting for the publication of the rules for months. Friday’s publication makes them challengeable in court.
Morrisey, addressing questions posed by the Washington Examiner and a handful of other reporters Friday morning, said he hopes to see the court act within a month.
He said the actions taken by other federal judges in recent weeks against other Environmental Protection Agency rules makes him optimistic that the court will grant their petition for stay.
A number of federal courts across different districts have granted stays blocking the implementation of the equally contentious Waters of the United States rule, or WOTUS, which makes federal water regulations enforceable on private lands by deeming small ditches waterways.
Judges halted the overreaching water rules while they review the merits of the states’ arguments, saying they raise too many questions about the extent of federal authority.
“In the context of WOTUS, that took about a month,” Morrisey said. The decision on the water rule “could be a guidepost” for what states can expect from the D.C. Circuit court, he said.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy came out defiantly Friday in response to the lawsuits.
“We are confident we will again prevail against these challenges and will be able to work with states to successfully implement these first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States,” she said.
“The Clean Power Plan has strong scientific and legal foundations, provides states with broad flexibilities to design and implement plans, and is clearly within EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act.”
