Clean Power Plan: US Supreme Court blocks Obama's environmental plan
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
The US Supreme Court has voted to suspend Obama's Clean Power Plan, which aims to significantly reduce emissions from power plants.
Clean Power Plan: US Supreme Court blocks Obama's environmental plan
The US Supreme Court has voted to suspend Obama's Clean Power Plan, which aims to significantly reduce emissions from power plants.
It is a cold shower. For Obama and for planet Earth. The United States Supreme Court has decided to suspend the ambitious Clean Power Plan championed by the White House in an effort to impose a significant reduction on greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by power plants across the country.
The Supreme Court rules five to four
Five of the nine justices who make up the highest court in the United States voted for the halt, thereby upholding the appeal brought by twenty-seven American states (almost all governed by Republicans, who celebrated by calling it a "monumental and unprecedented victory"). The other four justices (progressives) ruled in favour of the government's plan, also criticising the fact that the decision was reached with surprising speed.
The result is that Obama's Clean Power Plan, developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, will now remain suspended. It envisages a 32 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions released by electricity generation plants in the United States: a target to be met by 2030, relative to levels recorded in 2005.
The Clean Power Plan, a cornerstone of COP 21
From a political standpoint, this is not an easy blow for the American president to absorb: the Clean Power Plan represents one of the cornerstones of the government's commitment to the environment. And one of the constituent elements of the pledges made by the US to the international community at COP 21, the United Nations world climate conference held in Paris in December.
It is no coincidence that Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders said he was "deeply disappointed" by the Supreme Court's decision. And the White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, also officially responded to the news, sharply.
On the Supreme Court's #CleanPowerPlan decision, we remain confident we will prevail on the merits.
In legal terms, however, the final word has not yet been spoken: Obama's plan will in fact be reconsidered on appeal, and will then return to the table of the justices of the US high court. And the US Environmental Protection Agency has often won its legal battles. In the meantime, though, the ecological transition will remain on hold.
Foto di apertura: Lawrence Jackson/Official White House Photo