The U.S. Supreme Court cuts down on EPA’s authority

The Supreme Court made a decision that limits what the EPA could do regarding policies aimed at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. This is consistent with their other decisions limiting federal agencies’ ability to regulate. Their argument was that these agencies should not be making sweeping decisions with major impact in areas where Congress should pass laws. These agencies had circumvented Congress’s rightful authority to make laws governing the same actions.

From MSN and the Wall Street Journal:

The case before the high court was unusual because it involved regulations put forth by the Obama administration that never went into effect and were replaced in 2019 under the Trump administration. At issue was the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era set of rules devised by the EPA that sought to mandate a national shift away from coal to cleaner sources of power, including natural gas, wind and solar.

For half a century, the Clean Air Act has directed the EPA to regulate stationary sources of air pollution that endanger “public health or welfare.” The Obama-era Clean Power Plan extended that regulatory reach beyond the physical premises of a power plant to allow off-site methods to mitigate pollution.

The Supreme Court in 2016 halted the Clean Power Plan from taking effect, but the justices never directly addressed whether the rule was unlawful. The Trump administration in 2019 overturned the plan, replacing it with industry-friendly rules allowing older power plants to continue operating.

In January 2021, at the end of Mr. Trump’s presidency, a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia struck down his administration’s replacement rule, providing the Biden administration with a clean slate to work from in devising its own carbon-emissions rules.

The EPA powers at issue are central to Mr. Biden’s climate agenda. With fragile majorities in the Senate and House, Democrats have limited ability to advance their platform through new legislation. Like his recent predecessors, Mr. Biden is poised to govern through agencies such as the EPA, relying on his inherent constitutional authority and the statutory powers provided by existing legislation.

Presidents from both parties have increasingly governed by executive order when their agendas are stalled in Congress, often giving regulators vast power over swaths of the economy.

MSN has this article at this link.

Category: SCOTUS