The Supreme Court could blow Biden’s climate-energy policy
Yesterday, the US Supreme Court began examining a lawsuit filed by Republican states and coal companies over how much authority the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has to order emissions reductions in power plants. The case could represent a significant obstacle to the Biden administration's future climate policies and could set a precedent for federal agencies' power to impose carbon limits on power plants. The conservative-majority Supreme Court will hear discussions today that the EPA has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal and natural gas power plants under the Clean Air Act. Republican states led by West Virginia and coal industry groups are contesting a federal court ruling last year that the EPA had the authority to enact such regulations. "We don't think the EPA has the unilateral ability to decarbonise our country," West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey told Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo on Monday, commenting on the case in the Supreme Court. “We know there is only a limited amount of authority the EPA has over these carbon emissions… This is the great opportunity to curb federal excess power,” AG Morrisey said. "Major political choices affecting the national economy should not be made by unelected agency officials," according to a legal brief filed by the North American Coal Corporation, cited by NBC News.
Among those who support the administration's approach, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said, commenting on the case that pro-coal interests want the Supreme Court to "give them a permit to pollute." However, this decision falls just when the Ukrainian crisis highlights how a decarbonization that throws energy dependence from abroad is, in general, absolutely dangerous.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles of Economic Scenarios.
The article The Supreme Court could blow Biden's climate-energy policy comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-corte-suprema-potrebbe-far-saltare-la-politica-climatico-energetica-di-biden/ on Tue, 01 Mar 2022 11:00:18 +0000.