On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court granted a stay blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from requiring states to submit plans for major reductions in carbon emissions from electric power plants. The stay marks a setback for President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce carbon pollution from the power sector by 30 percent from 2005 levels.
The 5-4 vote was unusual, as the Supreme Court rarely grants a request to halt a regulation before review by a lower court. Nathan Richardson, a visiting fellow at RFF, notes "the bigger signal here is that there’s a lot of skepticism from the Supreme Court. You’re getting an earlier view of how the justices feel."
Read more RFF analysis on EPA’s Clean Power Plan at www.rff.org/cleanairact.
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