Clean Power Plan

The Clean Power Plan was an Obama administration policy aimed at combating anthropogenic climate change (global warming) that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The final version of the plan was unveiled by President Barack Obama on August 3, 2015. Each state was assigned an individual goal for reducing carbon emissions, which could be accomplished how they saw fit, but with the possibility of the EPA stepping in if the state refused to submit a plan. If every state met its target, the plan was projected to reduce carbon emissions from electricity generation 32% by 2030, relative to 2005 levels, as well as achieving various health benefits due to reduced air pollution.

In 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order mandating that the EPA review the plan, and withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement. Trump-appointed EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced the formal process to repeal the Clean Power Plan would begin on October 10, 2017. The standard federal regulatory procedures and potential legal challenges to implement or change a regulation would likely take up to two years.

In May 2019, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, who had replaced Pruitt, announced plans to change the way the EPA calculates health risks of air pollution, saying the change was intended to rectify inconsistencies in the current cost-benefit analyses used by the agency, calling it the Affordable Clean Energy rule. On the last full day of the Trump administration, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the new rule, characterizing it as a 'fundamental misconstruction" of environmental laws. The ruling did not reinstate the Clean Power Plan; however, it did create the opportunity for the Biden administration to improve and clarify the rules.