Some States Forging Ahead with Emissions Reduction Plans, Despite Supreme Court Ruling

Not all states are suspending work on the Clean Power Plan despite the Supreme Court's bombshell decision on Tuesday to put a temporary hold on the tight new rules that are at the heart of the Obama administration's climate policies.

Officials from more than a dozen states said they will continue the work they had already begun to comply with the plan.  That includes meeting with stakeholders, modeling energy and emissions scenarios and writing early drafts of implementation schemes that would fulfill the plan's requirement for states to steeply cut carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants over the next several decades to combat global warming.

"We haven't taken our foot off the gas pedal," said John Quigley, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will hold a previously scheduled stakeholder meeting on Friday, Mike Dowd, director of the agency's air division, told InsideClimate News.

Mary Nichols, chair of the California Air Resources Board, said in a statement she is "confident that the Clean Power Plan will prevail."

"California will not slow down our drive for clean air, renewable energy, and the good jobs that come from investing in green technologies," Nichols said.

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