WASHINGTON – Monday’s Supreme Court hearing will be in the most important environmental case for more than a decade. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in a dispute which could limit or eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate the pollution that is warming the planet.
The conservative supermajority of the high court could overturn President Biden’s plans to reduce the nation’s greenhouse emissions by half by the end of the decade. Scientists have stated that this is necessary to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change.
They could limit the federal government’s ability reduce greenhouse gases from power stations, said Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, a professor in geosciences and international relations.
The outcome could have other repercussions than just air pollution. It could limit the ability of federal agencies regulate health care, workplace safety and telecommunications.
If the court required the E.P.A. Professor of environmental law at Harvard Richard Lazarus said that if the court required the E.P.A. to be enacted, it could have a devastating effect on other agencies’ ability to enact rules that protect the public health and welfare of the country. It would prevent the enactment regulations under any number of federal statutes, including OSHA, Clean Water Act, Hazardous Waste Regulation, and Clean Water Act. In theory, it could limit the Fed’s authority to set interest rate rates.
A federal regulation that regulates power plant emissions is at issue. The regulation was never in effect and is not currently in existence.
After President Barack Obama’s announcement of the Clean Power Plan in 2015, legal wrangling began. This plan was his main strategy to combat climate change. The Clean Air Act gives the Obama administration authority to order each state to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the electricity sector. This would be done primarily by replacing coal-fired power plant with wind, sun, and other clean sources. After transportation, electricity generation is the second largest source for greenhouse gas emissions in the United States.
The Clean Power Plan was never actually implemented. The Supreme Court halted the program after a flurry of lawsuits from Republican states as well as the coal industry. After President Donald J. Trump was elected, he created a new plan that was virtually the same as any regulation. On the last day of Donald Trump’s presidency, a federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration had Misunderstanding the lawThe Trump plan was cancelled. This allowed the Biden administration the freedom to issue its own regulation. However, it has yet to do so.
Legal experts stated that it is extremely rare for the Supreme Court of America to hear a case that revolves around a hypothetical future regulation.
The Biden Administration’s Environmental Agenda
Although President Biden is pushing for stronger regulations, he faces a narrow path to achieving the goals he has set in his fight against global warming.
Jonathan Adler, a Case Western Reserve University professor of law, stated that the court should not attempt to determine the scope of E.P.A.s authority in regulating greenhouse gases, even though there is no regulation being challenged. I was surprised that they took the case.
Plaintiffs in the case West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency want the high court not to block the sweeping changes to electricity that were part of the Obama Clean Power Plan.
Instead, Republican attorneys general of 18 states and several of the largest coal companies in the country will argue that the 1970 Clean Air Act limits E.P.A. to make changes at individual power plants and not across the entire power sector.
Conservatives have long maintained that the executive branch is in violation of the Constitution’s authority to regulate all types of economic activity.
This is really about a fundamental issue of who decides the main issues of the day. Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia’s attorney general, spoke at an event in Washington this month to discuss the matter, ahead of his appearance before he appeared before the Supreme Court on Monday. Should it be unelected bureaucrats or the representatives of the people in Congress? This is the crux of this case. It is very simple.
Others believe that Congress delegated authority under the Clean Air Act to the executive branch to regulate air pollution broadly. They claim that the legislature makes the law and the executive implements it through regulation.
The fact that the opponents are so shrill in their objections doesn’t change that this regulation is not different from hundreds of regulation that agencies have produced ever since the New Deal. This is according to Richard Revesz who teaches environmental law at New York University. He filed a brief supporting the administration.
The stakes are high and each side has received legal support from a variety of supporters. Many of the nation’s largest electric utilities, the companies that would be subject of environmental regulation, have filed legal briefs supporting the government. They are joined in this by 192 members of Congress, U.S. Conference of Mayors and climate and public health advocates, as well as tech giants such Apple, Google, and Netflix.
Backing the plaintiffs are 91 members and some of the most powerful conservative groups in the country, including Americans for Prosperity Foundation, an organization affiliated with the libertarian Koch Family and their billions.
Mr. Morrisey stated that he was encouraged at the 6-3 split on court between conservatives/liberals, including a trio Trump appointees. He stated that we are optimistic about the outcome were going to get.
Officials of the Biden administration as well as environmentalists admit that Mr. Morrisey’s optimism may be well-founded given the court composition and recent decisions against federal regulations, such blocking a federal mandate for vaccines and ending Mr. Bidens moratorium on evictions.
David Doniger, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said that this court is certainly not friendly to government actions. There are reasons to believe that we have a fighting chance.
A spokesperson for Justice Department declined to discuss the case prior to oral arguments. The Biden administration, however, urged the court not to discuss the case. They noted that plaintiffs are not able to prove that there is no federal greenhouse gas regulation.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one the conservatives on court, may agree with this argument. He was a federal appels judge in 2015 and first heard the West Virginia case against Obama’s power plant regulation.
This appeals court dismissed the case because the rule was in draft form and wasn’t yet final. Mr. Kavanaugh said to the West Virginia lawyers that it was unusual for them to be involved in the process before it actually happens.
The Biden administration will be joined by the nation’s largest private and public power corporations in its oral arguments, which support broad regulation of their greenhouse emissions.
The power companies stated that they prefer the Obama plan’s flexibility. This would allow them lower their emissions by making changes across electric grid. This would include shutting down some plants, making other more efficient, and expanding wind or solar. They don’t want to have to make specific changes to power plants, which is what the administration can require, because it would increase costs.
Jody Freeman is a Harvard lawyer who was formerly a climate official for the Obama White House. She stated that the regulated sector itself has said they are not challenging E.P.A.’s authority. She said that the court will listen to what the industry has to say. Noting that the Supreme Court had blocked the mandate in a case involving the Covid vaccine mandate for large employer under the Biden administration, it was only in the case of health workers who requested regulation, she said that the court would be paying attention.
Justice Kavanaugh made the point. He noted in the arguments against the vaccine mandate that the people who have been regulated are not complaining about the regulation.
Lawyers for E.P.A. They will be closely listening, as they are expected soon to propose the power plant climate regulation.
The Supreme Court will hear the case today, the same day scientists from the United Nations released a report detailing the grave dangers that global warming poses for human civilization.
Climate change is already causing havoc in the United States with devastating floods, wildfires and droughts that have claimed thousands of lives and caused billions of dollars in damage. Mr. Biden has pledged his resolve to reduce greenhouse gasses. The United States is the country that has historically emitted the most greenhouse gas-warming pollutants into the atmosphere.
But Mr. Biden’s climate legislation has been stalled on Capitol Hill, and could fall if Republicans win control in the fall midterm elections.
This has put more emphasis on the power and authority of regulations. The E.P.A. will soon introduce power plant regulations. The E.P.A. plans to announce next year tougher limits on auto pollution that will accelerate the transition from gasoline-powered cars into electric vehicles.
The plaintiffs claim that their case is not premature. However, the details of the rules coming soon are still unknown.
According to Mr. Morrisey (the attorney general of West Virginia), the threat is real. It’s urgent right now.
Both legal experts agreed that this case is the first to address the increasing authority of federal agencies during a time in which a gridlocked Congress has failed o adopt new laws on issues such as climate change, immigration, and gun control.
Professor at Case Western Reserve University, Mr. Adler said that Congress is given fancy pins and nice offices as they are supposed to legislate. But they don’t do it. The executive branch has been trying to fill the void left by Congress’ failure to act for a while, and each administration is more aggressive in this regard. There is also the larger question of whether the courts should accept this.