Emergency Stay of EPA’s Clean Power Plan Denied by Federal Court
By Sonal Patel, POWER Mag.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday rejected a request by 15 U.S. states to stay the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan.
In a one-page order, the three-judge panel dismissed the request filed on Aug. 13 by a coal company and the coalition of states led by West Virginia’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey asking the court to issue an emergency stay to postpone deadlines imposed by the final rule. The states argued that the measure was critical while the courts determine the plan’s legality.
In its ruling, however, the court said the petitioners had not satisfied “the stringent standards that apply to petitions for extraordinary writs that seek to stay agency action.”