Five Likely Legal Challenges for U.S. EPA’s New Carbon Pollution Regulation

The new carbon pollution rule in the U.S. will inevitably face a series of lawsuits. Grist’s Ben Adler lists five likely legal strategies for the regulation’s opponents: attacking a previous EPA rule on emissions from new power plants, challenging the “outside the fence” approach that allows states to factor in a wider range of emission reductions, criticizing a set of variable targets that recognizes current energy use patterns in different states, opposing state compliance plans, and critiquing any compliance plans the EPA produces on states’ behalf. Ironically, the “outside the fence” strategy and flexible targets are designed to make the rule easier and more realistic for states to implement. “EPA is doing industry a favour by taking into account the prevalence of coal versus other resources,” David Doniger, senior attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate and clean air program, told Grist.