The Environmental Protection Agency will keep working with states on President Obama’s carbon emissions rules, despite Tuesday’s stay of the Clean Power Plan by the Supreme Court, said agency chief Gina McCarthy.
“If you ask me if I’m disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the Clean Power Plan, my answer would be absolutely yes,” McCarthy said Thursday, addressing state energy officials in Washington.
“I really wanted to be the one to sign that first plan approval,” she added, referring to the plans states were required to submit in September but now have been pushed back by the stay.
“But does it stop or even slow down this country in terms of our transition to a low-carbon future? Abosultely not,” she said.
“Let me be clear on what it does and does not do. The stay does not overturn years of effort and collaboration on the Clean Power Plan. It doesn’t preclude states from continuing to act on climate. They’re already saying that they are going to keep moving forward,” McCarthy said.
She said Colorado, Pennsylvania and other states have said the court’s decision is not stopping them from working on compliance with the far-reaching rule, which requires states to cut their greenhouse gas emissions one-third by 2030. Many scientists blame those emissions from burning fossil fuels such as oil and coal for driving manmade climate change.
Nevertheless, the agency’s air director suggested the stay will be in place for at least a year. She told states at the meeting that the court decision means the stay would remain until the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals hears the challenge, scheduled to start in June, and until the Supreme Court hears any challenge to the appeals court decision afterward.
