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“What’s Ahead For Power Plant Regs After DC Circ. Ruling,” Larry D. Mason in Law360

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“What’s Ahead For Power Plant Regs After DC Circ. Ruling,” Larry D. Mason in Law360

February 1, 2021
Larry D. Mason

“On the last full day of the Trump presidency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a strong rebuke of the administration’s deregulatory agenda,” Goldberg Segalla’s Larry D. Mason writes in an article with Law360. “The court’s Jan. 19 decision in American Lung Association v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rejected the EPA’s industry-friendly Affordable Clean Energy rule for power plants.”

In the article, Larry, a partner in Goldberg Segalla’s Global Insurance Services group based in Chicago, discusses the court’s ruling, which defeats the efforts by former President Trump’s EPA to undermine climate change policies. If left to stand, the EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy rule could have prevented future administrations from attempting to remedy the impacts of climate change caused by power plants without new congressional legislation.

“Notably, the decision did not reinstate a 2015 Obama-era EPA regulation that would have forced energy utilities to move away from coal and toward renewable energy, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Larry writes. “However, the appellate court negated the Trump administration’s primary argument that the only possible way to interpret the Clean Air Act of 1970 is that the federal government does not have the authority to set national restrictions on emissions or force states to move away from fossil fuel-based power sources.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE:

What’s Ahead For Power Plant Regs After DC Circ. Ruling,” Law360, January 28, 2021

MORE ABOUT GOLDBERG SEGALLA’S LARRY D. MASON:

Larry D. Mason is a renowned trial and appellate litigator and counselor to many national and international businesses across diverse industries. Based in Chicago but with experience litigating and counseling clients through complicated and high-profile matters across the country and internationally, he dedicates most of his practice to insurance coverage, reinsurance, commercial litigation, environmental and toxic torts, and complex insurance regulatory matters. He also focuses on professional liability for clients in construction, environmental, and related industries; products liability; and identifying emerging risks.