N.C. joins appeal of federal climate rules

North Carolina is among 28 states asking the U.S. Supreme Court to halt federal rules limiting carbon emissions from power plants while the rules are challenged in lower courts.

A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia last week refused to block the Clean Power Plan, the cornerstone of President Obama’s climate-change policy.

Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration has cited a study predicting the rules will increase residential power bills by $434 a year by 2020.

“This clear federal overreach will mean higher electricity bills for North Carolina families and small businesses,” McCrory said in a statement Wednesday. “North Carolina is a leader in protecting its air quality and keeping energy prices affordable for hard working families and employers.”

Protesters took to the streets in Charlotte last month before a hearing on the state’s plan to comply with the federal rules.

The Department of Environmental Quality crafted a plan that is limited to improving how efficiently coal-fired power plants operate. The plan ignores two other potential solutions – increased reliance on cleaner-burning natural gas and renewable energy – that DEQ has argued can’t legally be applied.

Green-energy advocates predict that the Environmental Protection Agency will reject the North Carolina plan because it does little to reduce carbon emissions.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "N.C. joins appeal of federal climate rules."