The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing to defend a global warming rule that will do virtually nothing on its own to avert projected temperature rises, despite its hefty price tag.

EPA lawyers are gearing up for oral arguments against 27 states along with dozens of industry groups, academics and think tanks trying to get federal judges to strike down the Clean Power Plan — a rule limiting carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

It’s President Barack Obama’s signature global warming rule, which is ironic since it does literally nothing in terms of thwarting global temperature rise.

Chip Knappenberger, a climate scientist with the libertarian Cato Institute, ran the numbers in 2014 and found EPA’s rule would only avert 0.02 degrees Celsius of projected warming — a literally unidentifiable sum.

He took to Twitter to remind others of the CPP’s impact:

As folks argue legal issues of #CleanPowerPlan, worth keeping in mind that the #climate impacts are virtually nil: https://t.co/Zi44HIkTgY — Chip Knappenberger (@PCKnappenberger) September 26, 2016

The CPP is also projected to cost $1 trillion over 25 years, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

EPA will require states to cut CO2 emissions from power plants in the coming years. The CPP is expected to force more coal-fired power plants to close down in the coming years, forcing more coal industry lay offs.

So how does EPA defend it’s $1 trillion rule that has no measurable impact on global warming?

House lawmakers asked EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy this question in March, and she told them the CPP was meant to show “leadership” more than it was about addressing global warming.

“We see it as having had enormous benefit in showing sort of domestic leadership as well as garnering support around the country for the agreement we reached in Paris,” McCarthy responded.

EPA will be arguing to save its rule from federal judges Tuesday. States, led by West Virginia and Texas, will ask the court to strike down the rule on the grounds it goes beyond the Clean Air Act.

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