West Virginia Leads Coalition Seeking to Block EPA’s Coal-Fired Plant Rule

A 25-state coalition led by West Virginia has filed an emergency petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling that allowed a federal regulation on carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants to remain in force. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a July 23 press release that the coalition had filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to immediately block implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recently-released rule that seeks to cut greenhouse gas emissions in existing coal-fired plants and any new natural gas plants. “The Rule will impose serious, irreversible harms on States, producers, consumers, and others involved in our nation’s critical power industry,” the states wrote in the petition, which seeks an administrative stay of the rule pending resolution of the case on its merits....