A federal appeals court signed off on the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed path for lawsuits on the Clean Power Plan, guaranteeing that a ruling on the climate rules won’t come until after a major climate meeting in Paris.
The EPA’s Clean Power Plan is the centerpiece of President Obama’s climate change agenda and the linchpin in securing a global deal on emission reductions at a United Nations meeting in Paris in December.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has received a deluge of lawsuits opposing the EPA’s plan in the last week from 26 states, 15 trade groups and a number of others asking to both rescind and stay the rule.
Thursday’s decision by the court is in response to the petitions for stay, which if granted would place Obama’s climate plan on ice until the merits of the lawsuits can be vetted by the judges.
EPA sent its recommendations for scheduling legal arguments in the case on Wednesday, including establishing a deadline of Nov. 5 for any new lawsuits, which the court did. The judges also agreed that the last remaining day for briefing arguments among the EPA, its opponents and interveners would be Dec. 23.
That means the court will not make any decision about the Clean Power Plan until the beginning of next year, leaving it in play while Obama is in Paris negotiating a global climate deal with world leaders.
Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe, of Oklahoma, said Wednesday that the schedule the EPA proposed is an indication it is on shaky legal ground.
“The EPA has been slow walking the publication of the Clean Power Plan in an attempt to delay the inevitable, and now is asking the federal court to delay next steps on the rule’s legal challenges until after the international climate talks in Paris,” Inhofe said.
“The Clean Power Plan is on legally vulnerable ground, and the agency knows it,” he said.
