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Washington • The top official at the Environmental Protection Agency says the ongoing legal fight over regulating carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants is not delaying the nation's accelerating shift to cleaner sources of energy.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy spoke Friday at an international conference, Climate Action 2016, in Washington. She expressed confidence the United States will meet its obligations under the landmark climate treaty signed in Paris last December.
More than two dozen states, nearly all led by Republicans, have sued to stop President Barack Obama's carbon emissions-cutting Clean Power Plan. The Supreme Court has barred implementation of the new rules until the legal case is resolved.
McCarthy says market forces are already phasing out burning coal to generate electricity as emissions-free wind turbines and solar panels plummet in cost.