CATF Statement: D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Vacates Trump-era EPA Rule

Yesterday, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals threw out an eleventh-hour attempt by the Trump Administration to limit greenhouse gas emissions standards to power plants, ignoring all other industrial sources of CO2 that must be regulated under the Clean Air Act. The “midnight rule” was immediately challenged in Court by a number of states and environmental groups led by Clean Air Task Force attorneys. Supported by our coalition, the Biden Administration has now succeeded in moving the Court to vacate the arbitrary and illegal rule.

In response to yesterday’s ruling, Clean Air Task Force has issued the following statement:

“We are pleased, yet unsurprised, that the Court agreed to vacate the Trump EPA’s unnoticed and wildly indefensible rule, which claimed to exempt nearly all industries from greenhouse gas regulation,” said Jay Duffy, Clean Air Task Force attorney representing American Lung Association and American Public Health Association. “CATF supports the Court’s decision to completely vacate the Trump Administration’s midnight effort to severely limit EPA’s ability to regulate climate damaging pollution.”

Read the order here.