The sudden death of US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday has ended the court’s conservative majority, making it harder for opponents of President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan to block the measure through litigation.
The justices last week voted 5-4 , and in line with their ideological leanings, in support of a request from a coalition of nearly 30 mainly Republican-led states to stay implementation of the CPP until a handful of lawsuits against the plan had been decided, effectively putting a hold on the EPA initiative to cut greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants, the foundation of the country’s climate pledge under last year’s Paris Agreement.
Scalia was one of the court's most right leaning justices, openly questioning whether GHGs should be treated in a similar way to other pollutants.
Read the full story here: Carbon Pulse