Professor Frank Publishes Op-ed on Legal Battle over Clean Power Plan

Professor of Environmental Practice Richard Frank published an op-ed in the San Francisco and Los Angeles editions of the Daily Journal regarding the high-stakes legal battle over the implementation of the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by requiring states to curtail emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants.

Twenty-seven states filed suit to challenge the plan, and the U.S. Supreme Court took the unprecedented step of granting a stay on its implementation while the matter awaits a hearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  It appears very likely the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, and the willingness of the Court to grant the stay could be taken as an indication that the justices were likely to rule against it, Frank writes. However, the recent death of Justice Antonin Scalia, who was expected to side with a conservative majority against the regulatory effort, has the potential to change that outcome, Frank notes.

"This is one of the many contexts in which the question of who succeeds Scalia becomes so consequential," Frank writes.  "It's quite possible the new justice will wind up being the deciding vote. Accordingly, it could be critically important whether it's Obama or his successor who makes that appointment."

Frank, a 1974 graduate of King Hall, is a leader in the field of environmental law and the founding Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.