Obama's war on coal just lost a round

Maybe Obama won't succeed in turning out the lights after all. TheHill.com reports:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule that forces cuts from plants in 28 states in the eastern half of the country, finding that it exceeds EPA’s powers under the Clean Air Act.

The Wall Street Journal also has coverage:

The EPA regulation, known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, covered about 1,000 power plants in more than two dozen states in the eastern half of the U.S. To comply, companies with older coal-fired plants would have had to run them less often, shut them down or pay for credits to offset the pollution. The rule would have required emissions cuts as soon as this year.

The Journal article notes that many coal plants may still be forced out of business by a separate rule covering mercury and other emissions that takes effect in 2015.