As of October 17, 2024, the US Supreme Court rejected “emergency applications” by utilities, independent power producers, and others seeking to put a hold on an Environmental Protection Agency rule that limits carbon emissions from power plants. [1] While Justice Clarence Thomas said that he would have granted the stay while litigation is still underway in the lower court, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed with dismissing the requests to stay the rule. They mentioned, however, that applications have a strong probability of success on the merits to at least some of their challenges arising from the EPA’s rule. Because the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is expected to make a decision before June, the applicants seeking the stay are unlikely to suffer irreparable harm without it. The EPA’s rule issued in April made it so that owners of coal-fired and new gas-fired power plants set to operate past 2039 would be required to meet a carbon dioxide emission standard equal to installing a carbon capture and storage system and running it at 90% efficiency. Compliance would begin in 2032. According to ClearView Energy Partners, the outcome of the presidential election in November will likely affect the litigation over the EPA’s rule. The Harris-Walz administration would likely continue defending the rule if they were to prevail. Under a Trump administration, the EPA could ask the appeals court to remand the rule so that the agency could redesign it. Various groups have requested the Supreme Court to put the rule on hold while litigation plays out after the DC circuit rejected their stay requests in July. The groups include Oklahoma Gas and Electric, Idaho Power, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Edison Electric Institute.

[1] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a95_n7ip.pdf