COALITION OF STATES AND LOCALITIES OPPOSE TRUMP ADMIN’S EFFORTS TO STALL CLEAN POWER PLAN

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and a coalition of states and localities from across the country on Wednesday filed opposition to the Trump administration’s request to delay court proceedings regarding the Clean Power Plan in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In November 2015, a coalition of states and localities led by Attorney General Schneiderman intervened in defense of the Clean Power Plan, against legal challenges to the plan.  The coalition argued that the plan is firmly founded in both science and the law, and built upon strategies New York and other states have used to successfully cut power plant emissions. The court heard oral argument en banc for a full day in late September 2016 and a decision is expected at any time.

However, last week – after President Trump signed an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to review the Clean Power Plan and decide whether to “suspend, rescind, or revise” it – EPA filed a motion asking the court to hold the litigation in abeyance while the Agency reconsiders the rule.

“The law is clear: the EPA must limit carbon pollution from power plants,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “In order to repeal Obama-era protections, the Trump Administration must replace those protections, as well — and we know how well repeal-and-replace went the first time around. My office will continue to defend the Clean Power Plan and aggressively oppose any effort to stand down from our shared responsibility to protect our environment and our climate.”

Schneiderman noted that granting abeyance likely would stay the litigation for years – indefinitely delaying the implementation of the Clean Power Plan, which is critical to mitigating climate change’s increasing harm to states’ public health, environments, and economies. EPA is required under the Clean Air Act to control emissions of climate change pollution from power plants, the country’s largest source. The Clean Power Plan, Schneiderman said, represents the culmination of a multi-year stakeholder process and is expected to eliminate as much climate change pollution as is emitted by over 160 million cars a year (or 70 percent of the nation’s passenger cars).