Oklahoma v. McCarthy

Oklahoma filed a consent motion in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals for voluntary dismissal of its appeal of a federal district court’s dismissal of its challenge to the proposed Clean Power Plan. Oklahoma indicated that because the Tenth Circuit had denied its request for a stay pending appeal, EPA would formally promulgate the final Clean Power Plan in the next several months. Oklahoma said that final promulgation of the rule would deprive the Tenth Circuit of continuing jurisdiction since the Clean Air Act vests exclusive jurisdiction over challenges to final rules in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Oklahoma’s request for an injunction pending the state’s appeal of a district court’s dismissal of its challenge to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan. Oklahoma filed its lawsuit in the Northern District of Oklahoma before EPA finalized its rule regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants but after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed other lawsuits that challenged the proposed plan. The district court dismissed Oklahoma’s lawsuit less than three weeks after it was filed, noting that there was no exception to the requirement for final agency action and that exclusive jurisdiction for review would lie with the D.C. Circuit.