Akin Gump Climate Change Team Authors Bloomberg Article on Landscape for Revamped Clean Power Plan
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Bloomberg has published the article “Clean Power Plan Revamp or an Evolved Approach?” written by several members of Akin Gump’s climate change team. The authors, environment and natural resources consultant Kenneth Markowitz, public law and policy counsel Christopher Treanor, environment and natural resources associate Bryan Williamson and energy regulatory specialist Shawn Whites, along with environment and natural resources associates Jack Lyman and Meaghan Jennison, explore the landscape of potential national emissions reduction schemes for major stationary sources of greenhouse gases.
The article notes that the Obama-era Clean Power Plan (CPP) was derailed by litigation as well as former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. The legal landscape, the authors write, “was further upended when the D.C. Circuit vacated the Trump administration’s Affordable Clean Energy rule—an ostensible replacement for the CPP. … giving the Biden-Harris administration a blank slate to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.”
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since confirmed that a replacement rule is coming, though whatever the EPA delivers, the authors say, “could be colored by congressional directives, necessitating a thoughtful engagement strategy for stakeholders with both the EPA and Congress.”
The article then looks at likely elements of a revamped CPP and discusses the viability of such a plan in today’s political climate. It concludes with recommendations for effective engagement with Congress and the administration.
To read the article in full, please click here.
