Moot Court

States are already complying with the Clean Power Plan rules they are challenging in court.

Reuters looked at the 27 states that are suing to block the EPA’s Clean Power Plan to limit carbon emissions from power plants and found that the majority of them are on track to meet their emissions targets. And some have reached their targets years ahead of schedule.

“Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Dakota appear to be meeting the CPP’s early targets,” Reuters reports. “And changes in the power market, along with policies favoring clean generation, are propelling most of the rest toward timely compliance.”

Much of the credit goes to falling prices for natural gas and renewables.

Another explanation is that EPA is requiring only modest cuts to carbon emissions — too modest, according to some environmentalists.

Reuters asked state attorneys general why they are suing even though some of their states will not have to do anything to comply, and they offered two explanations: First, they continue to believe that EPA overstepped its legal authority. Second, some states, like West Virginia, do still rely largely on coal power, and they export coal to other states too, so they fear the Clean Power Plan could particularly hurt their economies.