Mining, coal and electric utility groups last week joined calls for a federal court to freeze EPA’s new rule limiting planet-warming emissions from power plants, the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gases.
The National Mining Association, America’s Power and others asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to block the rule from going into effect as it weighs whether the agency had overstepped its authority by requiring the power sector to shift toward green energy.
Under the rule, utilities are set to begin “feasibility work” in June, kicking off the two-year process for states to develop compliance plans, they told the court.
Coal-fired power plant operators who want to keep their plants open will have to act immediately to maintain a hope of still operating, even before the D.C. Circuit can reach a decision on whether to ax the rule, the challengers said.
