The Supreme Court has upheld the Biden administration's climate standards for power plant emissions, rejecting an emergency request to temporarily block the rules while lower courts proceed.
In April, the Environmental Protection Agency released a final rule on pollution standards under the Clean Air Act, requiring all long-term coal-fired power plants to reduce their carbon emissions by 90% by 2032.
West Virginia, along with several other Republican-led states, filed for an injunction to put EPA emissions standards on hold while it challenges the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but the application was rejected by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
Justice Clarence Thomas would have blocked the EPA's rule, but Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the decision, according to a stay order reviewed by FOX News Digital.
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April 29, 2024 at the coal-fired Oak Grove Power Plant in Robertson County, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Justice Brett Kavanaugh issued a statement explaining his reasons for maintaining the standard at this time.
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“In my view, the applicants have shown that they are likely to succeed on the merits with respect to at least some of their challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency's regulations. “It is unlikely that the court will suffer because it will not have to begin compliance efforts until 2015.'' Because irreparable harm could occur before the D.C. Circuit decides the merits of the case, this court should stop for now. “We are right to deny the application,” Kavanaugh said.
US Supreme Court building in Washington DC (Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
“This case is far from over,” said West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrissey, who is leading the state's challenge to the EPA rule.
“We will continue to fight the merits phase to prove that this rule takes away important discretion from states and forces factories to use technology that doesn't work in the real world,” Morrissey said in a statement. Ta. “Here, the EPA is once again trying to transform the entire nation's power grid, forcing the closure of power plants.”
President Biden said climate change is an “existential threat” to humanity. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
However, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) praised the court's decision.
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“Today, the Supreme Court rejected final action on a fundamental legal process of our country,” EDF General Counsel Vicki Patton said in a press release Wednesday after the ruling. “EPA protections help address dangerous pollution, save people money, and create quality jobs.”
