Red states ask Supreme Court to halt Biden climate rule for power plants

Republican-led states on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to block the Biden administration’s effort to cut planet-warming emissions from the power sector. 

Twenty-five states sent a petition to the high court arguing for the Biden rule to be stayed while their case against it plays out after a lower court declined to pause it.

The states argued that they are ultimately likely to succeed in their case and will be harmed if it’s in effect while the litigation against it is ongoing. 

Their filing said that the rule’s requirements are “really a backdoor avenue to forcing coal plants out of existence — a major question that no clear congressional authority permits.”

“The Rule likely cannot stand,” the states added. 

The rule in question requires existing coal plants and new gas plants to install technology that prevents 90 percent of their carbon emissions. In practice, the rule is expected to accelerate a shift away from coal as some companies opt to shut down their plants instead of meeting the requirements. 

In 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot explicitly mandate a shift away from any particular power source, but it did not bar the agency from requiring plants to cut their emissions.

It’s not clear whether the court will take up the petition from the states. A trade group representing the coal industry has also indicated it would ask the Supreme Court to take up the issue.  

Administrator Michael Regan expressed confidence the agency would prevail in court in remarks at an event in Washington Tuesday.

“We took a step back to be sure that we’re not looking at Clean Power Plan 2,  we’re looking at something completely different that’s on the right side of the law,” Regan said. “And we measured twice and cut once and we came up with a very strong, legally durable plan.”

The EPA has said that its rule is expected to prevent 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon emissions through 2047, the equivalent of taking 328 million gas-powered cars off the road for a year.

The states asking the court to take the case are: West Virginia, Indiana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming.

—Zack Budryk contributed. Updated at 5:35 p.m.