Supreme Court: EPA can regulate greenhouse gas emissions

[telemann.livejournal.com]

The Supreme Court issued a major ruling today on the EPA.

The court’s bifurcated opinion on one hand criticized the agency for trying to rewrite provisions of the Clean Air Act. But it nevertheless granted the Obama administration and environmentalists a big victory by agreeing that there are other ways for the EPA to reach its goal of regulating the gases that contribute to global warming.

“It bears mention that EPA is getting almost everything it wanted in this case,” Justice Antonin Scalia said in announcing his opinion from the bench. “It sought to regulate sources that it said were responsible for 86 percent of all the greenhouse gases emitted from stationary sources nationwide. Under our holdings, EPA will be able to regulate sources responsible for 83 percent of those emissions.”

The decision concerns rules separate from the more comprehensive plan the EPA proposed earlier this month to cut carbon emissions from existing plants by as much as 30 percent over 15 years. And the ruling follows another decision this term that upheld the EPA’s authority to regulate air pollution that drifts across state borders, one of the administration’s top environmental goals. “Today is a good day for all supporters of clean air and public health and those concerned with creating a better environment for future generations,” the EPA said in a statement.

Source: Washington Post