D.C. Circuit Court Says “No” to Emergency Stay for the Clean Power Plan

(Washington, D.C. – September 9, 2015) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today denied two petitions seeking an emergency stay of the Clean Power Plan, the historic clean air standards that will reduce climate-disrupting air pollution from power plants – America’s largest source of such pollution.  

Today’s ruling from the three-judge court of appeals panel states:

“[T]he petitions [are] denied because petitioners have not satisfied the stringent standards that apply to petitions for extraordinary writs that seek to stay agency action.” 

Read the court’s ruling here.

“We are gratified, though not surprised, that the court has rejected another attack on the Clean Power Plan,” said Sean Donahue, counsel for EDF, which is participating in the case. “The Clean Power Plan itself is flexible, measured, and firmly rooted in science and law.” 

The requests for an emergency stay of the Clean Power Plan came from a group of 15 states led by West Virginia, and from Peabody Energy Corporation, a coal company.

The same two groups filed lawsuits against the Clean Power Plan earlier – before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had finalized it. In June, the D.C. Circuit Court rejected that unprecedented effort to obtain review of a proposed rule, saying they cannot review a federal standard before the conditions specified by Congress for judicial review have been satisfied.   

Read more about the Clean Power Plan and litigation concerning it on our website.