Ruling against the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], the Supreme Court ruled June 30 6 to 3 that the Executive Branch agency overstepped its authority demanding that West Virginia-based, coal-fired Longview Power Plant must transition from coal to renewable sources under strict EPA guidelines. Supreme Court took no position on the advisability to transitioning, under today’s strict climate control guidelines, to less carbon-polluting energy sources, like solar, wind or nuclear. Longview’s plant produced 700 megawatts of power from coal and natural gas turbines. In a long dispute dating to the Obama administration’s attempt to impose cap-and-trade standards, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion that the EP breached its authority, saying that only Congress can determine appropriate standards for cap-and-trade on carbon exhaust emissions.
Roberts made clear that the EPA breached its authority limiting the cap-and-trade standards for carbon emissions at U.S. power plants. “There is little reason to think Congress assigned such decisions” about cap-and-trade carbon emissions to the EPA. Using the controversial “major questions doctrine,” Roberts said a regulatory agency must have the authority vested in it by Congress to restrict carbon emissions. “Congress implicitly tasked it, and it alone, with balancing the many vital considerations of national policy implicated in deciding how America will get their energy,” Roberts wrote. In a clear battle between the Judicial and Executive branches, Roberts said Congress must give the EPA the authority to regulate carbon emissions, not assume it has the regulatory authority. Roberts protected Longview Energy from a regulatory scheme by the unauthorized EPA.
Roberts wanted to make clear that the Supreme Court did not rule against the Clean Air Act or recent Climate Change rules that attempt to limit the amount of carbon emissions by major polluting countries like the United States. “Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coast to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day’” Roberts wrote. “But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme,” ruling in favor of Longview power. Resolving the longstanding dispute over who authorizes the EPA to make regulatory schemes, Roberts required Congress to write and pass legislation putting its de facto authority into the EPA. Roberts argued for the majority that Congress must authorize the EPA to set the regulatory standards on carbon emissions.
White House reacted harshly to the Supreme Court’s ruling, accusing the High Court of gutting EPA pollution standards in compliance with recent climate conferences looking to reduce carbon emissions. “Today, the Court strips the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] of the power Congress gave it to respond to the most pressing environmental challenges of our time,” Associate Justice Elena Kagan wrote for the minority opinion. Roberts made clear the majority said if the EPA wants the authority to regulate carbon emissions, it needs to have Congressional approval. Kagan says Congress already gave the EPA authority to regulate carbon emissions but doesn’t see in any of the rulings how Kagan could think that. Roberts said that if Congress wishes the EPA to be the last authority on carbon emissions, it should through legislation authorize the EPA to set pollution standards.
Roberts speaks for the majority when he says that an executive branch agency must have the authorization of Congress before it interferes with the business model of any U.S.-based energy company. Roberts makes no judgment about the advisability of using renewable energy or the idea of reducing the carbon footprint, only that before the EPA can restrict any power producer it must have the expressed authorization by Congress to set carbon standards. “The court appoints itself—instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decision-maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening,” Kagan said, knowing she misses the point. Roberts makes no reference in his majority opinion about establishing the Supreme Court as an environmental authority. Kagan knows that the EPA has no implicit authority to regulate carbon pollution from fossil-fuel based power plants,
White House officials said they would seek executive orders to reinforce the regulatory authority of the EPA to impose strict climate-control standards on fossil-fuel-based power plants. “President Biden will not relent in using the authorities that he has under the law to protect public health and tackle the climate change crisis,” said White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “Our lawyers will study the ruling carefully and will find ways to move forward under federal law,” saying nothing about working with Congress to get the authorization needed to impose carbon standards on fossil-fuel fired power plants. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) slammed the High Court’s recent decisions on abortion, guns and carbon emissions. Supreme Courtt “adds to a number of dangerously outrageous decisions that have rightfully tarnished the public’s confidence in the Court,” Schumer said.
