Environmental -- 2016



National Association of Manufacturers v. EPA   (EPA)

Petition for stay of EPA's Clean Power Plan Rule

The NAM petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue an administrative stay to delay the effective date of the Clean Power Plan rule until a court rules on the rule’s legality. The rule, issued as a regulation of greenhouse gases from electric utility generating units, went much further than regulation of electric power plants. If the rule were to take effect, manufacturers would see their costs increase and some trade-exposed industries might be forced to relocate production overseas. The NAM’s petition argued that 1) the rule was already causing irreparable harm by forcing the closure of vast numbers of existing coal-fired generating units, constituting the backbone of the American electric grid; 2) that legal challenges to the rule are likely to prevail in court, since the Clean Air Act expressly forbids EPA from regulating existing fossil fuel-fired generating; and 3) the rule imposed standards of performance for the entire energy sector, rather than only for the individual sources of greenhouse gases from the power plants themselves. Although the EPA denied our petition, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a nationwide stay of the rule on Feb. 9, 2016, until the litigation over the rule is completed. Further developments in this case can be found .


Related Documents:
NAM Petition for Administrative Stay  (October 23, 2015)