The Environmental Protection Agency is confident it will defeat states and industry groups in a major court battle over its far-reaching climate rules, which is set to heat up in less than a month, the head of the agency said Friday.
“We should have no problem getting through this,” EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Friday. “The only question we have is how fast its going to move?”
The EPA took a major hit in February to its Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of the president’s climate agenda, with a 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court halting the regulation until all action in the courts has finished.
The Clean Power Plan is being challenged by 30 states and dozens of industry groups opposing the regulation as illegal. They will go toe-to-toe with the agency next month in oral arguments before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, while the Supreme Court’s stay remains in place.
But Friday, McCarthy played up the success the EPA has had at the Supreme Court in the past.
“Three times the Supreme Court has weighed in on carbon,” she said. “Every single time they have respected the science and the law. We did too.” She was referring to key rulings by the high court over the last decade affirming the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide.
She said the agency continues to move ahead with regulations on how states can implement the Clean Power Plan, despite the stay. She says the agency is respecting the law, but several states supporting the regulation continue to ask for guidance, and they are obliged to consider those request.
EPA sent its “clean energy incentive program” to the White House for final review last week, she noted. The incentive program gives states special credit for developing solar energy resources ahead of implementation of the Clean Power Plan in 2022.
“It’s faster than we ever anticipated, this shift to clean energy. Its pretty exciting.”
