Responding to a suit filed by several state attorney generals, a federal court decided yesterday to block the January 1, 2012 implementation of a new emissions rule from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to allow for further judicial review.

“Petitioners have satisfied the standards required for a stay pending court review” of the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, the court ruled. Attorney General Greg Abbott, R-Texas, had argued that EPA violated the law by “by denying Texas the ability to participate in the rule-making process.” The attorney general’s office also criticized the EPA for “jeopardizing the reliability of Texas’ electrical grid, threatening hard-working Texans’ jobs, and burdening Texas families with higher electricity prices.”