EPA moves forward with optional cap-and-trade system for climate rule

The Obama administration is moving forward with an optional cap-and-trade system that states could use to comply with its climate change rule for power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final model trading rule went to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review, the office said Friday, despite the fact that the underlying Clean Power Plan is on hold by order of the Supreme Court. “Many states have asked EPA to move forward with our outreach and to continue providing support and developing tools related to the Clean Power Plan,” the EPA said in a statement.  “We are developing these tools in a way that is consistent with the Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan,” it said.  Congressional Republicans and others opposed to the Clean Power Plan have repeatedly hounded the EPA for moving forward on initiatives related to the rule despite the Supreme Court’s order, issued in February.  That includes the Clean Energy Incentive Program, which the EPA has proposed to give states credit for early compliance with the rule.