Obama’s initiative would have reduced power sector emissions by a third. Under Trump’s plan, they’d fall by less than 1 percent.

PacifiCorp's Hunter coal fired power pant releases steam as it burns coal outside of Castle Dale, Utah on Nov. 14, 2019. Credit: George Frey/AFP via Getty Images

In the biggest case to reach a federal appeals court so far over President Donald Trump's dismantling of his predecessor's climate policy, administration attorneys argued on Thursday that the Clean Air Act gives the Environmental Protection Agency only limited authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from electric utilities. 

President Barack Obama asserted more expansive powers in his Clean Power Plan, the centerpiece of his strategy to combat climate change, which would have cut greenhouse gas emissions by a third. 

The plan gave states the authority to set emissions goals across the power sector and encouraged them to shift away from coal to cleaner sources of power such as natural gas, wind and solar. It was challenged by industry and 27 states and blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court before Obama even left office.

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