Obama EPA's Loss Is a Cheer Moment

It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good:

Former Clinton administration Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, contradicting the Obama White House, has said a Supreme Court order temporarily halting an EPA rule on power plant emissions could derail President Obama’s cherished global climate change agreement.

In a document filed in the federal court case over the administration’s Clean Power Plan, Mrs. Albright said a stay of the EPA regulation by the high court “could derail the international momentum to implement the emission reduction commitments achieved at the Paris climate conference.”

“Specifically, a stay of the Clean Power Plan would likely cast doubt on the ability of the United States to achieve domestic emission reductions and lead other nations to delay implementing emission reductions,” Mrs. Albright said in a brief filed in December. “Such a loss of momentum could quickly snowball, causing more nations to signal their intent to delay. If the loss of momentum were great enough, it could not be repaired even following a decision on the merits upholding the Clean Power Plan.”

The Supreme Court issued the emergency order Tuesday to block temporarily implementation of the EPA rule, which would require states to reduce carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Naturally, the fascist Left is beside itself at this abrogration of what it thinks should be its plenipotentiary power. Obama doesn’t just “govern,” he rules.

Mr. Obama relied on the plan to persuade other nations at the Paris conference in December about the U.S. commitment to reducing greenhouse gases.

At a Democratic fundraiser in California on Thursday, Mr. Obama said he is “very confident we are on strong legal footing” when a federal appeals court addresses the merits of the plan in June. He said the regulation is crucial to show his administration’s global leadership on climate change.

“I could not be prouder of our efforts to mobilize 200 nations around the world to say, ‘This is a problem,’” Mr. Obama said. “That’s the essence of American leadership, but that American leadership depends on us, depends on an administration that believes in science, for example.”

White House officials are saying the Supreme Court’s action won’t prompt other countries to back out of the global accord, which is expected to be signed formally at a U.N. conference in April. But Mrs. Albright argued that a stay “would seriously impede the administration’s ability to achieve the important foreign policy objective of reducing dangerous global climate change.”

Good.