On February 10, 2016, we reported that the Supreme Court stayed
the Clean Power Plan (CPP) pending review by the DC Circuit Court
of Appeals. As we noted, it's an unusual development since the
case is not currently before the Supreme Court. It poses a slew of
interesting and thorny questions for EPA and the various States
that are already deep into developing implementation plans. The
first deadline for those implementation plans is September of this
year. So what happens now?
First, on the procedural front, the oral arguments on the
legality of the CPP will be heard by the DC Circuit on June 2,
2016. If the D.C. Circuit moves very quickly, it could issue an
opinion upholding or striking down the CPP by late summer of this
year. That first step is, in itself, problematic because the
initial deadline for state submission of implementation plans in
the CPP is September, 2016. Granted, there is a provision within
the CPP allowing States to seek a two year extension to
