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President Obama got a big win today as a federal appeals court denied a Republican-led petition to block his administration’s clean energy plan.

Reuters reported:



A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a brief order denying an application seeking to stay the rule while litigation continues.

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The states, led by West Virginia, and several major business groups in October launched the legal challenges seeking to block the Obama administration’s proposal to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

More than a dozen other states and the National League of Cities, which represents more than 19,000 U.S. cities, filed court papers backing the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule.

The rule aims to lower carbon emissions from the country’s power plants by 2030 to 32 percent below 2005 levels. It is the main tool for the United States to meet the emissions reduction target it pledged at U.N. climate talks in Paris last month.



White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement, “We are pleased that the court has rejected petitioners’ attempts to block the Clean Power Plan from moving forward while litigation proceeds. We are confident that the plan will reduce carbon pollution and deliver better air quality, improved public health, and jobs across the country. We look forward to continuing to work with states and other stakeholders taking steps to implement the Clean Power Plan.”

Congressional Republicans have been obsessed with killing Obama’s clean power plan. In December 2015, the House followed the Republican-controlled Senate by voting to kill the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. Republicans hate the plan because it would take steps to reduce carbon pollution from the nation’s existing power plants, and cut emissions on future new power plants.

President Obama has taken steps to protect the nation’s air and water from pollution. The crisis in Flint, Michigan should serve as a wake-up call to every American about the value of a clean and safe environment. On a nearly daily basis, Republicans are threatening the country’s basic rights to clean air and water.

The President got a big win today, but the fact that Republicans can’t trusted to provide the people that they represent with clean air and water should not be lost on voters as they head to the polls in 2016.