The decision is one of the first successful legal challenges to President Trump’s “national energy emergency” ruling, which instructs federal agencies to use emergency powers to increase fossil fuel production.
The Department of Energy overstepped by ordering an aging coal-fired power plant in Michigan to continue operating past its retirement date, a federal court ruled on Sept. 11. The ruling represents one of the first successful legal challenges to President Trump’s “national energy emergency” plan, which instructs federal agencies to use all emergency powers available to increase fossil fuel energy production, Kate Yoder writes for Grist.
The Trump Administration has forced seven fossil fuel plants to stay in operation, “despite the pollution they cause and the enormous costs of keeping them online," Grist reports. Days before Michigan’s J.H Campbell plant was about to close, the DOE invoked short-term emergency powers to keep the plant running, arguing that the threat of outages and data centers’ need for more power constituted an emergency.
“But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rejected that argument, with Appeals Court Judge Cornelia Pillard writing that the emergency statute ‘is essentially a narrow, last-resort backstop,’” Grist reports.
Read the full story: A federal judge just told Trump there’s no ‘emergency’ to justify keeping a Michigan coal plant open
California’s ‘unrecognizable’ water plan may go down the drain
After four years of regulatory processes, water agencies say the plan to overhaul how cities and farms take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has changed dramatically.
Trump asks Supreme Court to allow border wall through Texas national park
Judge Kathleen Cardone previously blocked the Big Bend border wall project, and Texas’ Land Commissioner has spoken out against it as well.
Trump does not have free reign to dismiss Clean Air Act violations, judge rules
The administration attempted to dismiss the NAACP’s lawsuit against SpaceXAI, which claims the company’s smokestacks violate the Clean Air Act.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority