A federal appeals court on Sept. 17 dismissed a set of lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, a policy aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, especially coal-fired plants. The lawsuits were moot after the Trump administration replaced the regulation with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but that rule, which is more industry friendly, now faces its own set of challenges.
A number of large public and private electric and gas utilities together asked the appeals court to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s ACE rule and review its repeal of the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan. The ACE rule will result in more pollution and higher costs for industry and customers, a group called the Power Companies Climate Coalition said in a Sept. 6 statement.