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Clean Air Act can now absolutely regulate greenhouse gases. Take that, Supreme Court Republicans [1]
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Date: 2022-08-24
As The New York Times reports, the purpose and result of the legislation is crystal clear—clear enough that Republicans are fuming that this is another thing they missed.
“It’s buried in there,” said Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. “The Democrats are trying to overturn the Supreme Court’s West Virginia vs. E.P.A. victory.”
It’s not clear exactly what difference Cruz thinks it would have made if Democrats had placed this text on the first page in bold type. Republicans only get to vote “no” once. What’s more telling here is that Cruz is calling a court ruling a “victory.” Almost as if that court is making nothing but lopsided partisan decisions designed to bolster a single party and please their donors.
When it comes to the status of regulation, it’s likely that the EPA will soon go back to enforcing current or revised regulations using the new clarity on its powers. It’s also extremely likely that the agency will immediately be back in court as fossil fuel producers and power companies again try to keep them from enforcing the regulations.
Conservatives already think they’ve found an “out” following passage of the new bill. That comes in the idea that, sure, the EPA can now treat greenhouse gases like pollutants, but the legislation doesn’t specifically give the agency the authority to take actions that would force utilities to find other means of power generation. And somehow that’s supposed to result in the EPA not being able to regulate the pollution they are specifically empowered to regulate.
Which is like saying you can’t keep me from dumping mercury in the water if that’s the cheapest way to tan some leather.
As Justice Elena Kagan already pointed out in the dissent on the West Virginia case, Section 111 of the Clear Air Act already gives the EPA authority “to regulate stationary sources of any substance that ‘causes, or contributes significantly to, air pollution’ and that ‘may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.’”
The idea that this doesn’t include being able to regulate emissions from power plants is not just ridiculous, it runs utterly counter to multiple past rulings of the court, including the 2014 ruling in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, which states as a given: “The Clean Air Act imposes permitting requirements on stationary sources, such as factories and powerplants.”
That authority, and the clear definition of greenhouse gases, is all the authority the EPA requires.
Pretending otherwise is a ridiculous argument. But then, the whole West Virginia v. EPA case was ridiculous on its face, and the court found a way to twist enough logical pretzels to give the coal industry and power producers what they wanted.
With this court, simply having the facts, precedent, and law on one side doesn’t make the outcome a sure thing. But thanks to some quick thinking and skillful wording in the Inflation Reduction Act, there’s no doubt that the law is firmly there for the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases.
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[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/24/2118525/-Clean-Air-Act-can-now-absolutely-regulate-greenhouses-gases-Take-that-Supreme-Court-Republicans
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