The U.S. Supreme Court last week delayed implementation of new regulations aimed at reducing power plant emissions over the next several decades.
The Clean Power Plan, opposed by energy companies and states whose economies rely more heavily on coal and oil, aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. power plants by 30 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. Those reductions would help the country meet climate change pledges made late last year in Paris at an annual United Nations conference.
The court voted 5-4 to grant the stay until the U.S. Court of Appeals’ Washington, D.C. circuit can review appeals of the regulations.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called the court’s order approving the stay “disappointing and shortsighted.”
“However, it is not a final decision on the legal merits of the Clean Power Plan, so it is important that we continue with preparations for compliance with the plan while these issues are being worked out in the courts,” Malloy said.
According to an analysis of the court’s order by Connecticut law firm Day Pitney, it could delay deadlines for states to submit plans to the EPA describing how they will achieve emissions reduction targets. If the legal process drags on long enough, it could also delay implementation of the rules, scheduled for 2022.
Among the judges voting to stay the Clean Power Plan was Justice Antonin Scalia, who died of natural causes Saturday at a Texas hunting resort, though the exact cause of death was unclear, according to the Washington Post.
