The White House says it is confident it will prevail over states and businesses opposing its far-reaching climate rules for power plants and that the rules will continue under the next administration.
“We feel very confident” that the lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency can be “managed through … and the next administration will continue” with the climate regulations, Richard Duke, the deputy director of the White House’s office of energy and climate, said Thursday at a discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
He added that emission rules “are routinely challenged in the courts … and EPA has continually managed through it” in other court fights over its pollution regulations.
The EPA’s Clean Power Plan is being challenged in federal appeals court by more than two dozen states and industry groups. The court is expected to decide on whether to stay the regulations as soon as the end of the month.
The EPA plan is the centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change agenda and the linchpin to securing an international deal in Paris last month to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Many scientists blame the emissions for changing the Earth’s climate, resulting in more severe weather.
Most of the GOP candidates for president say they would overturn the Clean Power Plan.
