Federal Appeals Court Vacates Trump's Affordable Clean Energy Plan

SUGAR LAND--January 21, 2021--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On January 19, Donald Trump's last full day as president, his signature energy and environmental rulemaking, the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, was vacated in a 2-1 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In vacating the rule, the court sent the matter back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Washington, D.C.). Given the change in administration, and President Joe Biden's emphasis on reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the Electric Power Industry, among other sectors, whatever rules come out of the Biden EPA are likely to be very different from Trump's ACE rule. Within this article: Details on the ruling and where environmental policy could go in a Biden administration.