The Supreme Court allows a regulation limiting pollution from coal-fired power plants to remain in effect

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a Biden administration regulation aimed at limiting planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants to remain in effect as legal challenges loom.

The court rejected a push by Republican-led states and industry groups to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule. One judge, Clarence Thomas, publicly dissented.

Two other conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, said they expected the challengers would likely eventually prevail on at least some of their claims, but the court did not need to block the rule now since the new rules only came into effect around 1999 It would come into force in June 2025 at the latest. The case could end up back before the Supreme Court relatively quickly.

Justice Samuel Alito did not attend.

The rule requires many coal-fired power plants to capture 90% of their carbon emissions or shut down within eight years, with deadlines taking effect for several years.

The energy industry is the second largest contributor to climate change in the country, and the rule is a key part of President Joe Biden’s promise to eliminate carbon pollution in the power sector by 2035 and across the economy by 2050.

The Supreme Court also left two other regulations in effect for now earlier this month, but other environmental regulations have not fared well in recent years. In a landmark decision in 2022, the justices limited the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. In June, the court halted the agency’s “good neighbor” rule to combat air pollution.

Another ruling in June, overturning a decades-old decision known colloquially as Chevron, is expected to make it harder to set and comply with environmental regulations, among other federal actions. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce cited that ruling in court filings supporting the challenge in the coal plant case.

An appeals court had allowed the EPA’s new power plant regulations to come into force.

A panel of three judges – two nominated by Democratic President Barack Obama and one nominated by Republican President Donald Trump – concluded that states face no immediate harm because the compliance deadlines do not take effect until 2030 or 2032.

Environmental groups said the standards were appropriate, cost-effective and achievable, and well within the EPA’s legal responsibility to control harmful pollution, including greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Mining Association argued that the rules threaten the reliability of the country’s power grid by forcing the early closure of power plants as demand for electricity increases.

The EPA predicts the rule would provide up to $370 billion in net climate and health benefits and avoid nearly 1.4 billion tons of carbon pollution by 2047, equivalent to avoiding the annual emissions of 328 million gasoline-powered cars.