The U.S. Supreme Court rendered a rather unpopular decision on Tuesday that enjoined the Environmental Protection Agency plan from implementing the provisions under the Clean Power Plan against coal plants. President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the initiative against climate change, expressed his confidence that the ruling will be overturned in favor of the EPA.
Obama called the Supreme Court stay "unusual" and insisted on the legality of the Clean Power Plan.
"I've heard people say, 'The Supreme Court struck down the clean power plant rule'," Obama said in his first public reactions towards the ruling.
He assured people that the White House will prevail and there's no reason to despair.
"This is a legal decision that says, 'Hold on until we review the legality,'" Obama said.
The controversial Clean Power Plan sets "standards of performance" for power plants across the states that would require them to make the transition from coal energy to clean and renewable energy sources. The Clean Power Plan would effectively reshape the entire U.S. electric utility industry in a bid to cut carbon emissions by at least 32 percent, affecting many coal-producing states.
Reuters reported Obama has expressed his confidence on the legality of the Clean Power Plan, which is premised on a small portion of the U.S. Clean Air Act.
"This Supreme Court has said the Environmental Protection Agency is required to regulate carbon emissions if it's a threat to the public health. And we clearly can show that that's the case," he added.
Harvard Law professor and Obama's former environmental legal counsel Jody Freeman called the Supreme Court's decision a "stunning development" that "indicates a high degree of initial judicial skepticism" from the court.
Freeman is also of the opinion that the ruling would undercut America's position on efforts to combat climate change.
In negotiating the climate change pact at the Paris Conference in December, Obama headlined the Clean Power Plan as evidence of the United States' commitment to lowering emissions to set an example to other countries. Now that it's being stricken down, party states now fear a damaging impact on the U.N. climate-rescue initiative.
European Union climate change commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete told The Guardian, "We have confidence in all countries to deliver on what they promised. The EU will continue to lead by example and enshrine its targets into law."
Cañete will also meet U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern in Brussels next week to discuss the possible implications of the Supreme Court's ruling on the climate change pact.
