Blood on Their Hands: Supreme Court Ruling to Broadly Regulate Carbon Emissions

What did the Supreme Court decide? In a 6-to-3 ruling, the court found the EPA does not have the authority to force electric utilities to close down coal-fired power plants and shift to wind, solar and other renewable forms of generation.

Writing for the majority, Roberts pointed to what is called the “major questions” doctrine, which says Congress must “speak clearly” when authorizing agency action on significant issues. The majority argued Congress simply hasn’t given the agency the authority to issue such sweeping carbon regulations on the power sector.

The country’s main federal air pollution law, the Clean Air Act, was written more than a half-century ago, well before climate change was recognized as the crisis it is today.

Was a carbon rule already on the books for carbon plants?

Nope. And that’s what made this case so strange from the start.

During President Barack Obama’s last year in office, the Supreme Court blocked his administration’s rule to cut power plants’ carbon, called the Clean Power Plan, from taking effect. The Trump administration replaced the plan with a more lenient version, but it, too, was blocked by an appellate court on his last day in office.

Normally, judges wait for regulators to act. But this high court decided to hear the case before the Biden administration could weigh in with its own proposal.

Do the companies that operate coal-fired power plants want this?

Not necessarily.

A group of electric utilities serving more than 40 million people, some of which have divested from coal, told the court its decision to even hear the case is “premature” and “untethered to actual circumstances” driving change in the power sector.

In reality, utilities have been closing coal plants over the past decade in the face of competition from cheaper forms of energy such as gas-fired generators, solar farms and wind turbines. In their own brief, Apple, Tesla and other major tech firms investing in renewable energy agree that “stable, nationwide rules” on emissions are needed to accelerate that trend.

What does the Biden administration do now?

Good question.

Both the White House and the EPA said the administration is reviewing the decision. “Our lawyers will study the ruling carefully and we will find ways to move forward under federal law,” White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan said in a statement.

But EPA officials have already signaled they have other tools for cutting pollution from power plants.

The agency, for instance, is working on new rules to compel power plants to cut down the emissions of smog-forming pollution blown across state lines and to stop toxic contaminants in ash pits from leaching into drinking water. Taken together, the new regulations may make running coal plants more costly to operate.

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Blood on Their Hands: Supreme Court Ruling to Broadly Regulate Carbon Emissions

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