Supreme Court Upholds EPA’s Plant Emissions Rules for Now
October 22, 2024
On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused a request from states, energy companies, and other organizations to put on hold the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) power plant emissions rule currently challenged in a Federal appeals court.
However, the denial does not necessarily indicate the court’s approval of the rule; it simply allows the rule to remain in effect while the D.C. Circuit hears the case.
- According to SCOTUSblog, Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch sympathized with the challengers’ claims, but said that because the litigation is moving quickly in the lower court, they are unlikely to be affected by the rule for now.
The rule seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by requiring some power plants to meet emissions standards similar to what they would achieve using “90% carbon capture” – a technology that relies on chemical solvents to remove 90% of the carbon dioxide from a plant’s exhaust stream and then permanently store it underground.
Why it matters: According to the EPA, this rule could lead to significant reductions in carbon pollution, equivalent to the emissions of 328 million gasoline-powered cars over the next two decades.
Yes, but: The challengers argue that the rule is inconsistent with the Clean Air Act and not currently achievable at a commercial scale.
- They also invoked the “major questions” doctrine, which played a major role in the Court’s 2022 decision striking down the Clean Power Plan in West Virginia v. EPA. In this decision, the Court stated that Congress must explicitly state if it intends to give a regulatory agency the power to make decisions of great economic or political significance.
We expect to see regulatory agency rules (proposed and final) litigated more frequently under the “major questions” doctrine and in the wake of Loper Bright which overturned Chevron Deference (courts deferring to regulatory agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes).
Today, Oct. 22, CREFC is hosting a webinar on the implications of Loper Bright and the overturning of Chevron Deference.
Contact Sairah Burki (sburki@crefc.org) with questions.
Contact
Sairah Burki
Managing Director, Head of Regulatory
Affairs & Sustainability
703.201.4294
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