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The Climate Litigation Database
Litigation

West Virginia v. EPA

About this case

Documents

Filing Date
Type
Action Taken
Document
Summary
10/16/2024
Decision
Emergency applications for immediate stay denied.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied eight emergency applications for immediate stay of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency final rule establishing new greenhouse gas emissions standards and guidelines for new and existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units. Justice Thomas would have granted the stay. Justice Alito did not participate in the consideration or decision of the applications. Justice Kavanaugh, joined by Justice Gorsuch, wrote a statement indicating that in his view, “the applicants have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits as to at least some of their challenges” but that they were unlikely to suffer irreparable harm before the D.C. Circuit decided the merits because compliance work was not required until June 2025.
07/23/2024
Application
States filed emergency application for an immediate stay of administrative action pending review in the D.C. Circuit.
After the D.C. Circuit denied requests for a stay, six emergency applications, including one filed by West Virginia and other states, were submitted to Chief Justice Roberts seeking an immediate stay. Chief Justice Roberts requested a response to the applications by August 19. The arguments in the applications to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay included that the final rule is “déjà vu all over again” because the final rule was “no less problematic” than the Clean Power Plan. The states contended that the final rule set “impossible-to-meet standards” that would impose “major, jarring shifts in the nation’s power market,” forcing closure of coal-fired plants.

Summary

Challenge to final rule repealing the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule and establishing new greenhouse gas emissions standards and guidelines for new and existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units.