Statement from UCS President Ken Kimmell on Today's Clean Power Plan Court Decision

Published Jan 21, 2016

WASHINGTON (January 21, 2016)--Below is a statement from Ken Kimmell, president at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). 

"Today's announcement from the D.C. Circuit Court is a big win for efforts to address climate change and transition to a low carbon economy. The court ruled that EPA’s clean power plan to limit carbon emissions will stay in effect while the court hears legal arguments related to it. This ruling means states must continue developing robust compliance plans in a timely way while the litigation is pending, as many states are already doing. Opponents of this common sense rule are on the wrong side of history, and furthermore are failing to acknowledge market trends already underway favoring clean energy."

According to a recent UCS analysis, States of Progress, the majority of states, 31, have already made commitments that will put them more than halfway toward meeting their 2022 Clean Power Plan benchmark, with 21 of these states set to surpass it. Similarly, 20 states are on track to be more than halfway toward meeting their 2030 Clean Power Plan target, with 16 states set to surpass it.