On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a judgement that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have wide jurisdiction to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. This decision was a severe blow to the ambitious climate change targets that President Joe Biden has set for the United States.
As a result of the vote, which was 6-3, President Biden's hopes of addressing climate change through executive branch action are in jeopardy. This comes just six months after a Senate deadlock thwarted the efforts of congressional Democrats to pass their most comprehensive climate bill to date.
In addition, the decision may give rise to issues about other forms of regulation in which agencies attempt to employ earlier legislation to address developing and continuing societal problems, such as those that occur in the areas of health care, telecommunications, finance, and other important industries. In a statement, President Joe Biden referred to the judgement as "another devastating decision that aims to take our country backwards."
The ruling that was made by the conservative majority on Thursday indicated that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not allowed to pursue the comprehensive strategy that the Obama administration had used in regulating greenhouse emissions coming from power plants around the country. In addition to this, it placed the responsibility for passing significant climate legislation on Congress, which has been unable to do so since the Democrats' cap-and-trade bill was defeated 12 years ago. If lawmakers want the EPA to take aggressive action against climate change, Congress will need to pass legislation that grants the EPA more authority to do so.
Since the defeat of Biden's Build Back Better proposal last year, which contained more than 500 billion dollars for climate-related projects, the Democrats' aspirations of enacting significant climate legislation have been put on hold for the time being. Since a result, the window of opportunity for legislative action is closing, as it is anticipated that Republicans will regain at least one chamber in the next midterm elections.
As a result of the judgment made on Thursday, the opportunities for Biden to combat climate change via the use of pre-existing legislation are also diminishing.
The Supreme Court decided that the Obama administration's climate rule from 2015, which sought to shift states away from coal and toward natural gas and renewable sources, was a "unprecedented" and illegal expansion of the EPA's power. This decision was made based on the fact that the rule sought to shift states away from coal and toward natural gas and renewable sources.
Using an earlier climate judgment as an example, Justice Elena Kagan said in her dissenting opinion that “Today, the Court strips the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the power Congress gave it to respond to ‘the most pressing environmental challenge of our time".
In his statement, President Biden noted that the government will study the decision and explore ways to continue regulating greenhouse gases and other kinds of air pollution. Biden's statement was released after the president made the announcement.
The United States Supreme Court decided in a case that was heard and decided 15 years ago that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had the ability to regulate carbon dioxide and other pollutants that contribute to climate change. On the other hand, the new, more conservative majority of the Supreme Court decided on Thursday that the government's capacity to take dramatic measures to cut carbon emissions is, on the whole, quite constrained.
Scientists have issued a warning that countries are running out of time to escape the damage caused by global warming, and that governments need to adopt more aggressive actions if they are to uphold their pledges made under the Paris climate accord of 2015. The United States is the world's second greatest contributor to greenhouse gas pollution, behind only China, and the production of energy is the nation's second largest source of emissions, behind only transportation. China is the world's largest contributor to greenhouse gas pollution.
Since the Obama administration passed its key regulation for power plants in 2015, known as the Clean Power Plan, the extent of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) jurisdiction has remained an unsettled legal matter. This regulation was founded on a convoluted plan that was devised with the intention of persuading states and utilities to give up using coal as a source of energy in favor of natural gas or renewable energy.
When compared to other types of businesses, such as oil refineries and steel mills, the Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took a more holistic approach to the industry, arguing that the rule reflected the ability of utilities to switch fluidly between different types of generation sources. It created objectives for states to minimize carbon pollution while providing for flexibility in attaining those targets in order to encourage the most cost-effective solutions. These targets were developed for the purpose of reducing carbon pollution.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Daily Cable.
