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Supreme Court limits EPA power: What to know

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with coal producers and several states in a dispute over the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, curbing the agency’s ability to fight climate change.

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In a 6-3 decision, the nation’s highest court determined that under the Clean Air Act, the nation’s main anti-air pollution law, the EPA does not have broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.

“Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day,’” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the court’s majority opinion, joined by justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. “But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt its own such regulatory scheme in Section 111(d) (of the Clean Air Act).”

>> Read the Supreme Court’s full opinion

What was the case about?

The case centered around the Clean Power Plan, a set of rules introduced during President Barack Obama’s term in office, which aimed to push the country from coal to less polluting sources of power.

The Supreme Court stopped the plan from going to effect in 2016, and former President Donald Trump later repealed it in favor of rules that were more fossil-fuel-industry friendly, the Wall Street Journal reported.

What did the Supreme Court decide?

The government argued that the EPA had the authority to carry out the Clean Power Plan based on its power to regulate certain pollutants from existing sources under the Clean Air Act. However, the Supreme Court determined that the had agency overreached, as it was not explicitly granted the ability to shift power generation from higher-emitting to lower-emitting producers.

Justices wrote that under the EPA’s interpretation of its authority based on the Clean Air Act, “Congress implicitly asked it, and it alone, with balancing the many vital considerations of national policy implicated in the basic regulation of how Americans get their energy.”

“There is little reason to think Congress did so,” according to the court.

Among the rules included in the Clean Power Plan, coal producers could purchase emission allowances or credits as part of a cap-and-trade program aimed at facilitating the shift to cleaner energy sources. In the court’s majority opinion, Roberts noted that Congress had repeatedly considered and rejected a cap-and-trade program for carbon numerous times before the EPA announced its plan.

What did the dissenting justices think?

In a dissenting opinion joined by justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the Supreme Court had stripped the EPA “of the power needed – and the power granted – to curb the emission of greenhouse gases” and respond to the threat of climate change, “‘the most pressing environmental challenge of our time.’”

“The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency — the decisionmaker on climate policy,” Kagan wrote. “I cannot think of many things more frightening.”

How will this affect regulations going forward?

Thursday’s ruling is expected to affect more than just the EPA because of its reliance on the major questions doctrine, according to The New York Times. The doctrine states that agencies can’t execute major policies without explicit permission from Congress, Bloomberg Law reported.

“For a century, the federal government has functioned on the assumption that Congress can broadly delegate regulatory power to executive branch agencies,” Steve Vladeck, professor at the University of Texas School of Law and CNN Supreme Court analyst, said Thursday, according to the news network. “Today’s ruling opens the door to endless challenges to those delegations -- on everything from climate change to food safety standards -- on the ground that Congress wasn’t specific enough in giving the agency the power to regulate such ‘major’ issues.”

President Joe Biden said Thursday that he has directed his legal team to work with the Justice Department and affected agencies to determine how to continue fighting pollution and climate change under federal law.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.