Fifteen states asked a federal court Thursday to temporarily block Obama administration carbon regulations while they mount a full legal challenge to the rules. The move is the first step in what is expected to be a yearslong court battle over recently completed Environmental Protection Agency rules that call for carbon emissions from power plants to be cut 32% by 2030 from 2005 levels. The rules are the cornerstone of President Barack Obama ’s climate agenda. The states asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to issue an emergency stay blocking the rules, noting that they would be required “to spend significant and irrevocable sovereign resources now” to be in a position to meet the initial deadline of Sept. 6, 2016 for states to submit compliance plans to the EPA. The states are mostly from the South and Midwest, including Ohio, Michigan, Florida Georgia, West […]