By Robin Bravender
Ahead of next month’s courtroom showdown over the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, lawyers last week previewed their arguments in a Chicago classroom.
Industry attorney Tom Lorenzen and environmental lawyer Sean Donahue each appeared confident as they presented their opposing sides of the case at a debate hosted by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. Both attorneys are expected to represent their respective sides during oral arguments next month over U.S. EPA’s regulation to curb power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions.
The opposing duo — both former Justice Department attorneys — touched on several issues that are likely to be central to the oral arguments slated for June 2 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Central to the oral arguments next month will be a legislative glitch created by the House and Senate passing different versions of a section of the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments. Many of the rule’s challengers believe they have a strong argument that EPA’s efforts to regulate power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act are illegal because the agency is already regulating those sources’ hazardous air pollutants under another section of the law…
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