Obama’s Climate Legacy Under Fire as Power Plan Faces Test
- Judge says case has ‘huge economic and political significance’
- EPA showdown likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court next year
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President Barack Obama’s plan for shifting U.S. electrical power generation away from coal and toward cleaner sources was labeled in court as an illegal power grab that would force the creation of a “new energy economy.”
The Clean Power Plan would force states to restructure their entire electric portfolios, West Virginia Solicitor General Elbert Lin said during a hearing on Tuesday before a federal appeals court in Washington as 27 states seek to undo the initiative. Eric Hostetler, an attorney for the government, argued that the plan’s approach was reasonable, necessary and more cost-effective to help avert the “devastating harms” of climate change.