President Barack Obama told supporters “don’t despair” and overreact to the Supreme Court’s decision this week that temporarily blocks the administration’s rules to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘The Supreme Court struck down the clean power plant rule.’ That’s not true. So don’t despair, people,” Obama said at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Atherton, California, Thursday, making his first public comments since the decision was announced Tuesday night.
Obama referred to the Supreme Court decision as “unusual”, adding that his administration is very confident it is on the right side of the law.
Responding to a lawsuit from 29 states, as well as the energy industry, a split Supreme Court blocked the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan from going forward while the rule is challenged in court.
Obama has pushed action on global warming as a key part of his legacy, an effort that reached its peak with the deal at the U.N.-led talks on climate change in Paris in December. He used the court’s action to appeal to donors of the importance of this fall’s election.
“But the reason I bring this up now is to underscore fact this is going to be an enormous generational challenge,” Obama said to the 450 supporters, contributing up to $33,400 to attend the fundraiser.
“There are going to be people constantly pushing back and making sure we keep clinging to old dirty fuels and a carbon-emitting economic strategy that we need to be moving away from.”
