The ruling marks Texas' third failed effort to delay the Obama administration’s climate policies. Court lets EPA mess with Texas

For the third time in two months, Texas officials have lost a legal bid to keep the Obama administration from regulating carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the Lone Star State.

Wednesday, a federal appeals court rejected a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and state attorney general Greg Abbott to bar the Environmental Protection Agency from taking over the state’s greenhouse gas permitting program.


The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia agreed in December to stall the rules temporarily, but dissolved that stay Wednesday, finding that state officials “have not satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending court review.”

The ruling marks Texas’ third failed effort to convince federal courts to delay the Obama administration’s climate policies while legal fights plays out. In December, the D.C. appeals court refused to stall EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, and a New Orleans-based federal appeals court rejected Texas’s request to delay the EPA permitting takeover.

“They’re pretty much out of options,” said David Doniger, policy director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate Center. “It’s time for Rick Perry to stop grandstanding and look at this practically.”

EPA officials say the takeover is necessary to ensure that large emitters of greenhouse gases in Texas will still be able to obtain federal clean air permits under the new climate rules. Texas officials, meanwhile, accused EPA of “unlawfully commandeering Texas’ environmental enforcement program and violating federal laws that give the State and its residents the opportunity to fully participate in the regulatory process.”

Perry and Abbott’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations officially took effect on Jan. 2. The rules require new and upgraded industrial facilities to install technologies to control their greenhouse gas emissions.