The Fate of the Clean Power Plan and U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Trump Era

The Obama Administration’s signature effort to abate greenhouse gases (GHGs) that contribute to climate change was its Clean Power Plan (CPP), an innovative effort to rein in GHGs from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants, the U.S.’s largest source of stationary source emissions. The CPP never went into effect, however, the victim of an unusual stay issued by the United States Supreme Court before its effective date. Subsequently, a lower court halted the litigation attacking the CPP at the request of the Trump Administration to allow it to review (and presumably repeal) the CPP and put its own stamp on climate policy. This article discusses the review process the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has embarked upon, its potential outcome, and the extent to which regulatory policies and market considerations are likely to shape GHG emissions from the U.S. electric power sector in the foreseeable future