U.S. utilities file legal challenge to Trump

(Reuters) – Con Edison and eight other U.S. utilities mostly from the Democratic Republic of the United States have filed a legal challenge to the Trump administration's plan to cut carbon emissions from power plants, which replaces a much tougher Obama-era rule.

The New York-based power company said in a statement on Monday that the Clean Clean Energy (ACE) rule undermines efforts already underway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by investing in renewable energy, electric vehicle infrastructure and energy efficiency and other clean technologies.

The group of utilities, which calls itself the Power Companies Climate Coalition, has already adopted heavily in adopting those technologies because they have adopted large amounts of renewable energy.

In addition to Con Ed, the coalition included Exelon Corp., National Grid, PG & E Corp., Public Service Enterprise Group Inc., Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Seattle City Light, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and New York Power Authority. Together, they serve over 23 million customers in 49 states.

A similar suit was filed by Democratic States in August.

The utility group's petition was filed in the District of Columbia's Circuit Court of Appeals on Sept. 6 was not much reported at the time.

In a statement released on the day of the petition, the coalition said the Environmental Protection Agency's ACE rule "fail to acknowledge the ways in which they have reduced carbon emissions while maintaining reliability."

The rule, finalized in June of this year, is aimed at helping companies face tough competition from renewable energy suppliers. It gives states three years to their own plans to cut emissions by encouraging coal-fired power plants to improve efficiency.

Obama's Clean Power Plan slash power plant carbon emissions by pushing utilities to drop coal. That regulation was never enacted because of lawsuits by Republican-led states.