Court won't block EPA climate regulations

The Obama administration scored a legal victory Friday when a federal appeals court refused to block federal climate regulations slated to kick in next month. State and industry challengers opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s climate regulations had asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to halt the rules while the massive court battle plays out, but the court wasn’t convinced. A host of states, industry groups and free-market groups are suing EPA over its regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gases from automobiles and large industrial sources like power plants and oil refineries, as well as the so-called endangerment finding underpinning the rules. David Doniger, a Natural Resources Defense Council attorney representing environmental groups in the case, said the decision is a sign that the “industry and state case against the regulations is pretty flimsy.”...more