President Obama’s Clean Energy Plan stalled
Republicans block Obama’s Clean Energy Plan
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the Obama administration’s new Clean Energy Plan that largely impacts coal-fired power plants.
By a vote of 5-to-4, the court voted to stop the regulation even before review by a federal appeals court. The votes in favor of blocking the Clean Energy Plan in its tracks came from all five Republican-appointed members of the court: Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito.
The court’s four Democratic-appointed judges — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer, and Elena Kagan — all dissented.
The vote was unprecedented in that the Supreme Court had never before granted a request to stop a regulation prior to a first review by a federal appeals court.
Supreme Court slams the brakes on Obama's clean energy plan https://t.co/jcq8x7qzxs pic.twitter.com/uq97kEYWDM
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) February 10, 2016
Waiting game
The key to the proposed Clean Energy Plan is to compel U.S. states to cut carbon emissions by 32 percent by the year 2030. It’s a strong step forward in the U.S. battle against climate change, and follows the worldwide fight against climate change that was just discussed in great detail in Paris at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21).
For now, though, regions of the U.S. will be in a waiting game of varying lengths. Some states plan to push ahead on their climate action plans while others will wait due to this ruling.
Uncertainty will prevail in the short term, but the courts will be forced to come to a conclusion at some point. If not before, the answers will likely surface when Obama leaves the White House and a newcomer takes his place.
