On August 11, 2015, the State of Arkansas joined 16 other states in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to seek review of the final Clean Power Plan released last week. The Petition alleges that EPA erroneously concluded that the plaintiff states' State Implementation Plans are substantially inadequate with respect to periods of startup, shutdown and malfunction and must be revised. Arkansas is represented in the lawsuit by Assistant Attorney General Jamie Leigh Ewing.
Super Lawyers magazine has selected the annual 2015 top Arkansas attorneys within their respective practice areas. Four PPGMR attorneys have been selected for the Super Lawyers list and four for the Rising Stars list.
The Local Government Energy Efficiency Project Bond Act (Act 1275 of 2015), which provides financing for energy efficiency projects for municipalities and counties under Amendment 89 of the Arkansas Constitution, recently went into effect. The Act authorizes Arkansas municipalities and ...
While the final Clean Power Plan released on Monday by the Obama administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection ("EPA") agency spells even tighter reduction goals for the rest of the country, it backs away somewhat from the emissions goal originally proposed for Arkansas. The original target proposed for Arkansas would require an approximately 45% reduction in carbon emissions, which was significantly above the Plan's national goal. This is reduced in the final Plan to a state goal of approximately 37%. As to how emission reductions are to be achieved, the final Clean Power Plan continues to place a strong emphasis on renewable energy and is anticipated to create new opportunitities within that industry. Under the Plan, the Obama administration projects that renewable energy sources will account for 28% of the nation's capacity by 2030, an increase from the 22% in the original proposal.
On August 6, 2015, State Attorney General Leslie Rutledge released a statement that Arkansas has joined 15 other states in requesting an immediate stay from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency of the Clean Power Plan in anticipation of a lawsuit challenging the plan being filed.
