The Energy Information Agency predicted the retirement of up to 60 gigawatts of coal-fired electricity generation by 2020. A significant contributor to that evolution was the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard or MATS Rule. Until today that is, when a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court concluded in Michigan v. EPA that EPA’s failure to consider cost in deciding to regulate power plant emissions was improper.

"Pope Francis Stands Up to Climate Deniers," or so says the editorial board of the Newark Star Ledger. Yes, but the headline could have read, "Pope says No to Cap and Trade." In his ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME, Pope Francis calls for an honest discussion on environmental issues that divide us, both politically and geographically. While the advance press fed expectations that the encyclical would be all about climate change and humankind’s role in causing it, our read is that the Holy See’s perspective on climate change is part of a larger message.

Last Tuesday night saw a few of us enjoying the charms of Virginia Beach as we recovered from a long day of coal plant demolition. (Lawyers in hard hats. Run from that.) Well, not exactly.