From the National Association of Manufacturer’s blog Manufacturing Economy Daily
This obviously is a big victory for Missouri manufacturers as well as energy consumers of all kinds. We applaud all who have worked hard to fight this bureaucratic overreach, especially Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster. It was Associated Industries of Missouri that headed up a delegation of Missouri business owners who appealed to Attorney General Koster face-to-face to become one of the more than 20 states that joined in the court action to at least delay this onerous plan.
In a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court on Tuesday granted a stay request from 27 states as well as business groups and individual companies to block implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan while it’s being challenged in lower courts.
The Washington Post says that in granting the stay, the court didn’t address “the merits of the challenge” to the EPA’s effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, but the decision “indicates that the justices think the states have raised serious questions.” As a result of the stay, “questions about the legality of the program will remain after Obama leaves office,” the Post says.
According to the New York Times, although Tuesday’s order “was not the last word on the case,” the high court’s “willingness to issue a stay while the case proceeds was an early hint that the program could face a skeptical reception from the justices,” who are likely to hear the case “after an appeals court considers an expedited challenge.”
McClatchy calls the Supreme Court’s action a victory for the states, which argued that the Clean Power Plan was unconstitutional. Reuters (2/9, Hurley, Volcovici) describes the decision as a significant blow to President Obama because the EPA plan is at the heart of his strategy to tackle climate change.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Chief Justice John Roberts was joined by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito “in support of the order” while the court’s “four liberal justices dissented”: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.
The Washington Times reports that “the EPA called the court’s decision disappointing but said it won’t stop the agency’s determination to press forward.” EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison said: “You can’t stay climate change and you can’t stay climate action. … Millions of people are demanding we confront the risks posed by climate change. And we will do just that.”
Also providing coverage of the Supreme Court order are CNN, Bloomberg News, The Hill, Politico, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons, in a news release, credited manufacturers’ “leadership in the courts” for helping “secure this important victory.” The “burdensome and costly” EPA plan, he said, “creates uncertainty” that threatens the sector’s “global competitiveness and ability to create jobs and economic opportunity.” Timmons added, “The granting of our motion to delay implementation while the courts debate the legality of the Clean Power Plan not only shows the strengths of the merits of our case, but also saves manufacturers from billions of dollars in unjustly incurred regulatory costs.”
Associated Industries of Missouri is the sole official designated partner of the National Association of Manufacturers in Missouri.