A U.S. federal court on Thursday rejected a bid by 27 states to block the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of its strategy to combat climate change by reducing carbon emissions from power plants.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a brief order denying an application seeking to stay the rule while litigation continues.
The states, led by West Virginia, and several major business groups in October launched the legal challenges seeking to block the Obama administration's proposal to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.
More than a dozen other states and the National League of Cities, which represents more than 19,000 U.S. cities, filed court papers backing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule.
The regulation aims to lower emissions from the country's power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 emissions levels.
The court action means the regulation remains in place but it is not the final word in the legal fight. The appeals court still has to hear oral arguments and decide whether the regulation is lawful.
So for now, the rules remain in place. Whether or not red states will comply with them is another story. You can bet here in Kentucky for example that compliance will never happen under a Bevin administration, so it may be a moot point anyway.
Should the GOP win in November, it won't matter anyway.
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