The Clean Power Plan proposed by EPA in June of 2014 has now received over four million comments. What is the Clean Power Plan? The EPA’s proposal has two main elements: (1) EPA-imposed state-specific emission rate-based CO ₂ goals that each state is required to meet and (2) guidelines for the development, submission, approval by EPA, and implementation of those state plans.

The new Republican Congress and Senate are obviously looking hard at this EPA requirement and seeing if they can avoid a veto by slipping in contrary legislation into an appropriations bill. Also, various parties have noted in the comments to the proposal that while the  EPA cites section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act as authority, the EPA has previously questioned whether it has jurisdiction under 111(d) to mandate state-wide limits on CO ₂ emissions. The EPA has never issued any regulations under that law that is applicable on a state-wide basis for a ubiquitous pollutants. Regardless of the reason, the EPA has now decided to delay its rules until the summer of 2015.

What is certain is that Congress will not propose any legislation intended to cut both greenhouse gas emissions and the jurisdictional questions raised by the plan.

— James Pray

Sources:

http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/fact-sheet-clean-power-plan-carbon-pollution-standards-key-dates

http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/clean-power-plan-proposed-rule