Climate Change Scorecard: Affordable Clean Energy Rule Versus Clean Power Plan

September 17, 2018
Katherine L. Vaccaro and Megan A. Elliott
The Legal Intelligencer

Just weeks ago, the Trump administration proposed its long-awaited answer to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP). The CPP was the first federal endeavor to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) from existing fossil-fuel fired power plants following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. EPA (2007) that carbon dioxide and other GhGs are air pollutants under the Clean air act (CAA) and, therefore, can be regulated by the environmental Protection agency (EPA). But the CPP’s fate was marred from the start, with the rule’s detractors immediately rushing to challenge the rule in federal court, and the Supreme Court ultimately deciding in early 2016 to halt implementation of the rule pending the outcome of the litigation in the lower court.

Read the full article.