High-stakes legal fight looms over Trump pollution rule
Democratic state attorney generals and environmental groups are gearing up for what is expected to be a precedent-setting legal battle with the Trump administration over its rollback of an Obama-era power plant pollution rule.
They argue the new Trump rule won't do enough to stop climate change and that the administration is ignoring the Clean Air Act's (CAA) requirement that the federal government manage pollution that is harmful to human health.
There are high stakes. A loss on their side could limit the EPA’s ability to address climate changing pollution in administrations to come, an outcome the Trump EPA is banking on.
“If it’s upheld, this new highly constrained legal interpretation that they’ve put forward here could really hinder the use of the Clean Air Act in the future as a tool for reducing climate-changing pollution,” said Lissa Lynch, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
NRDC is one of a handful of environmental groups, along with a number of state attorney generals who have said they plan to sue over the rule.
The EPA’s new rule is a replacement for former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) rule, which targeted emissions from coal plants and sought to move the country from its reliance on coal. The rule never took effect amid a number of legal challenges that are still moving through the courts.
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/449814-high-stakes-legal-fight-looms-over-trump-pollution-rule
= new reply since forum marked as read
