The unprecedented legal battles over the Clean Power Plan have
been on ice for quite some time. However, recent events suggest the
rule may start making headline news once again very soon.
Originally enacted in October 2015, the rule was challenged
immediately, stayed by the Supreme Court in February 2016, and
argued in expedited fashion to the entire D.C. Circuit for seven
hours on September 27, 2016. With over a hundred total litigants,
including all but five states—26 against the rule, and 19
supporting it—all eyes were on the one of the most unusual
and significant environmental cases of all time.
Then the world changed. Shortly after that grueling oral
argument, Donald Trump was elected to become the next President of
the United States and, in March 2017, President Trump ordered EPA
to "if appropriate [and] as soon as practicable ... publish
for notice and comment proposed rules suspending, revising, or
rescinding" the rule. The Department of Justice notified
