Environmental lawyers have long worried this US Supreme Court ruling could dramatically undercut efforts to curb carbon emissions and combat climate change. Here’s what the verdict in West Virginia v EPA does – and doesn't – mean for cutting emissions
What kind of impact could this ruling have on efforts to combat climate change?The ruling is likely to throw sand in the gears of the Biden administration’s plans to make US electricity generation carbon-free by 2035. However, it falls far short of limiting the agency’s discretion to regulate on all issues.
“The ruling curtails EPA’s authority to regulate pollutants on the basis of protection of the earth’s climate and will result in unconscionable delays, given that Congress is not poised to address this issue,” saysWe must accept we won’t meet 1.5°C climate target, says report Conservative lawyers say leaving it up to Congress would make regulators more accountable to the public, though others argue Congress is not well-suited to respond quickly to often technical, fast-changing environmental issues. They also point out that the EPA has other avenues to control greenhouse gas emissions, for instance through tailpipe emissions standards, or by setting rules for individual power plants.
“There are many, many other steps the EPA already has the statutory authority to take to reduce emissions,” says, an attorney at Mountain States Legal Foundation, which wrote an amicus brief on behalf of the plaintiffs. The agency can still regulate carbon dioxide as it would any other pollutant, he says.
And it is worth pointing out that reductions are possible without regulations. The emissions targets set in the Clean Air Act, for instance, were met a decade ahead of schedule even though the rule never went into effect.newsletter to get a dose of climate optimism delivered straight to your inbox, every Thursday
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
U.S. Supreme Court reinstates Louisiana electoral map faulted for racial biasThe Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a Republican-drawn map of Louisiana's six U.S. House of Representatives districts that had been blocked by a judge who found that it likely discriminates against Black voters.
Read more »
U.S. Supreme Court expands state power over tribes in win for OklahomaThe U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday widened the power of states over Native American tribes and undercut its own 2020 ruling that had expanded Native American tribal authority in Oklahoma, handing a victory to Republican officials in that state.
Read more »
US Supreme Court delays creation of Black Louisiana Congressional district until deciding Alabama redistrictingThe court’s action is similar to an order issued in February in Alabama that allowed the state to hold elections in 2022 under a map drawn by Alabama’s GOP-controlled legislature that contains one majority-Black district.
Read more »
Iraq veteran who lost job as Texas trooper can sue the state, U.S. Supreme Court rulesThe Supreme Court has allowed a former state trooper to sue Texas over his claim that he was forced out of his job when he returned from Army service in Iraq....
Read more »
U.S. Supreme Court expands state power over Native American tribesWASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday dramatically increased the power of states over Native American tribes and undercut its own 2020 ruling that had expanded tribal authority in Oklahoma, handing a victory to Republican officials in that state. In a 5-4 decision authored by conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court ruled in favor of Oklahoma in its bid to prosecute Victor Castro-Huerta, a non-Native American convicted of child neglect in a crime committed against a Native American child - his 5-year-old stepdaughter - on the Cherokee Nation reservation.
Read more »
Ketanji Brown Jackson to be sworn in as first Black woman on U.S. Supreme CourtKetanji Brown Jackson is set to be sworn in on Thursday as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, making history as the first Black woman on the nation's top judicial body while joining it at a time when its conservative majority has been flexing its muscles in major rulings.
Read more »