Carbon pollution controls put on hold : SCOTUSblog

The conservative justices of the Supreme Court voted to stay the Obama administration's regulations compelling coal burning power plants to reduce emissions is a triumph for the anti-environmental politics of the American political right.  I do not expect them to stop denouncing judicial activism.  They'll just be "activist" and claim they are following the letter of the law.  - gwc
Carbon pollution controls put on hold : SCOTUSblog
by Lyle Denniston
Dividing five to four, the Supreme Court on Tuesday evening ordered the Obama administration not to take any steps to carry out its “Clean Power Plan,” a move that may stall the plan until after the president leaves office next January. The order — issued in identical form in individual responses to five separate challenges — will spare the operators of coal-fired power plants from having to do anything to begin planning for a shift to energy sources that the government considers to be cleaner. (An example of the five orders is this one, issued in a case filed by twenty-nine states.)

The plan, designed to make sharp reductions in carbon pollution from the smokestacks of generating plants fueled by fossil sources, is now under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. It has put the case on an expedited schedule, with a hearing set for June 2. However, it may not finish its ruling until this fall, and then either side may try to move the case on to the Supreme Court.

The new orders will delay all parts of the plan, including all deadlines that would stretch on into 2030, until after the D.C. Circuit completes its review and the Supreme Court has finished, if the case does wind up there. There appears to be little chance for those two stages of review to be over by the time President Obama’s term ends next January 20.