ELR Citation: 54 ELR 20110
No(s). 24-1120 (D.C. Cir. Jul 19, 2024)

In a per curiam order, the D.C. Circuit denied states' and industry groups' motions to stay EPA's rule aimed at reducing pollution from fossil fuel power plants. Petitioners argued EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously in determining that carbon capture and other emission control technologies were adequately demonstrated or that specific degrees of emission mitigation were achievable with those technologies. The court found petitioners had not shown they were likely to succeed on those claims, and that the suit did not implicate a "major question" under West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 142 S. Ct. 2587 (2022), because EPA had only claimed the power to set emission limits under the CAA, "a type of conduct that falls well within EPA's bailiwick." It further found that, to the extent petitioners claimed irreparable harm due to the need for long-term planning, a stay would not help because the risk remained that the distant deadlines in EPA's rule would come back into force at the end of the suit. The court denied the motions to stay.