Court won’t halt climate change rule

In a significant victory for President Barack Obama, a federal appeals court on Thursday rejected an effort by coal companies and more than 20 states, including Texas, to block the president’s signature rule on planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants while a lawsuit moves through the courts.

The rule — put forth last summer by the Environmental Protection Agency — is at the heart of Obama’s efforts to build a legacy of tackling climate change.

It would require each state to develop a plan to significantly cut greenhouse-gas pollution from electric power plants, the nation’s largest source of the emissions that cause global warming.

The rule could lead to a drastic transformation of the nation’s electricity system, closing hundreds of heavily polluting coal-fired power plants and vastly increasing the production of power from alternate sources such as wind and solar.

But at least 27 states, many of which have economies that rely on coal mining or coal-fired power, have sued the administration in federal court to block the plan. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit set June 2 to hear arguments in that case, although it is widely expected that it will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, probably in 2017.

The states that oppose the plan had petitioned the federal court to block execution of the rules until their final legal status is determined.

By rejecting that petition and requiring states move forward with plans to shut down polluting coal plants and build new wind and solar sources, the court handed a win to the Obama administration and proponents of its climate change policy.

“Obviously, we’re extremely pleased, since today’s order rejects extreme mischaracterizations of the Clean Power Plan and efforts to delay its implementation,” said Sean Donohue, a lawyer for the advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, which has joined the Obama administration as a defender of the rules.

Donohue said the decision gave him optimism that the courts would ultimately uphold the final ruling.

In a statement, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton denounced the ruling.

“Regardless of the court’s ruling today, the Obama Administration’s power plan not only remains bad policy but is also still unlawful. This ill-advised example of federal overreach will kill jobs, result in higher electric bills and create a significantly less reliable electric grid for all consumers.”