(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
The Inflation Reduction Act Gives Back The EPA Some Of Its Powers To Fight Climate Change [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-08-26
https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/politics/trump-epa-repeals-obama-water-regulation/index.html
The President’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the best thing this country has ever done in addressing the climate crisis, but its significance may be in some of the details, including granting the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) extra powers under the Clean Air Act to improve the nation’s air quality
While this does not give the agency back its teeth, after it was defanged by a recent Supreme Court decision, it does increase the agency’s budget and give it direct power over a wide range of air pollutants.
This is important to clarify as there’s been some speculation on both sides of the aisle about the IRA upending the recent Supreme Court decision shackling the EPA on its remit to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
The IRA does this to some extent by amending the Clean Air Act to include greenhouses, such as CO2, as air pollutants harmful to human health. It does not, however, give the EPA authority to regulate power plants. So I expect there will be litigation to clarify this aspect of the act once the EPA resumes regulatory work.
The conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled in June in its West Virginia v. EPA decision that the EPA had assumed broad authority over power plants under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, without being granted express Congressional authority to do so. In a snap, this decision has taken away the ability of all federal agencies to implement complex and dynamic regulatory programs designed to protect the public and enforce the administration’s agenda. This is a crippling decision when it comes to dealing with carbon emissions and its damaging impact will be felt around the globe.
The IRA is the first clear attempt to deal with some of the shortcomings of the Clean Power Plan exposed by West Virginia v. EPA, but, while a good first step, more will be needed.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/8/26/2118951/-The-Inflation-Reduction-Act-Gives-Back-The-EPA-Some-Of-It-s-Powers-To-Fight-Climate-Change
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
