Georgia halted work Wednesday on plans to meet new federal rules to fight global warming, after the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the Obama administration from imposing them.
The decision was roundly applauded by politicians and industry officials in Georgia who complained that the mandated carbon reductions from coal-fired power plants — 25 percent statewide by 2030 — would hurt businesses and ratepayers.
Georgia joined 28 other states last year in a lawsuit against the president’s Clean Power Plan. Gov. Nathan Deal nonetheless directed the state’s environmental agency start on a compliance plan.
Wednesday, a day after the high court stopped the rules pending further legal review, the state Environmental Protection Division said it has postponed research and stakeholder meetings devoted to the Clean Power Plan.
“We are pleased that Georgia will not need to begin plan development at this time given the uncertainties surrounding its ultimate legal status,” said Mary Walker, an assistant EPD director.
Last summer the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandated that states reduce carbon emissions by one-third, with compliance plans due later this year. Coal-fired electric power plants were targeted.
A district court will hear arguments in the states’ case June 2, and the Supreme Court could take it up by mid-2017.
“We will continue to fight this executive overreach which will put Americans out of work and drive up the cost of electricity for consumers,” Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said in a statement.
Environmentalists lamented the decision. It “hits pause on the country’s strongest action to lower harmful carbon pollution,” said Frank Rambo, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Georgia was expected to rather easily meet the EPA guidelines. Its carbon-emission targets were relaxed from earlier goals and the state also received credit for the under-construction nuclear power Plant Vogtle.
Atlanta-based Georgia Power, which operates 5 coal-fired plants, applauded the delay as "the right decision for customers and the states unduly tasked with achieving EPA's overreaching mandates," spokesman Jacob Hawkins said.
