A U.S. federal court of appeals upheld the right of environmental regulators to curb harmful carbon emissions via clean car standards and limit industrial pollution from new power plants. The court rejected a series of lawsuits that had been filed against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the Coalition for Responsible Regulation, which included coal, oil and steel interests.

President Barack Obama’s Republican foes have opposed efforts by the government to impose new regulations to control greenhouse emissions, saying it would hamper business as the economy recovers from the worst economic crisis in decades. However, the court denied those legal challenges and upheld the EPA’s “Endangerment Finding,” which determined that greenhouse gases may “reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”