The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked an Environmental Protection Agency rule cracking down on power plant pollution, delivering another blow, at least in the near term, to the Biden administration as it looks to deliver on its ambitious decarbonization goals. [emphasis, links added]
In a 5-4 decision, justices agreed to pause the EPA’s so-called good neighbor rule, which seeks to strictly limit ozone pollution from power plants and other industrial sources in 23 states, as well as air pollutants that can drift downwind to other states and cause additional harm.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The EPA’s plan, which originally applied to 23 states and was intended to provide a national solution to ozone pollution, was met instead with litigation from Republican-led lawsuits.
In September 2023, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court, arguing that the EPA had overstepped its authority in imposing the plan and that it imposed costly and ineffective burdens on their states.
Plaintiffs further argued that the EPA rule should not be enforceable because it relied on the assumption that all 23 states the agency put on notice in the rule would participate in the “good neighbor” plan.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed with the state’s assertion that the EPA’s implementation of the provision was likely an overstep of their authority and posed an undue burden to certain states.
“The problem stems from the way EPA chose to determine which emissions ‘contribute[d] significantly’ to downwind States’ difficulty meeting national ozone standards,” Gorsuch said.
Implementation of the rule is paused in 12 states due to lower court decisions — prompting complaints by the remaining 11 states that they are unfairly tasked with bearing the brunt of the burden.
Those 12 states are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
Environmental groups took umbrage at the ruling Thursday.
Read rest at Examiner
The liberal media is really crying over overturning the Chevron ruling. They say we need the “experts” in the bureaucracy to make the law by interpretation. The trouble, these bureaucrats have been making their rulings based purely on political philosophy. The ozone from power plants is a perfect example. The gas is not at a level to be harmful, but it is used as an excuse to shut down power plants. Another issue is carbon dioxide is beyond its saturation point so increased concentrations will do very little to warm the earth. If these bureaucrats were the experts the media claim they are, they would make no regulations to limit CO2.
Since this web site was updated Friday Supreme Court overturned the Chevron ruling. It is this ruling that liberal administrations have used to make laws by bureaucratic edicts. This includes limiting ozone from power plants which are at too low of a level to be an issue. These edicts include the 200 measures that make gasoline more expensive to produce, and force an end to fossil fuel powered cars. Also included are the measures to make appliances more expensive and in some cases degrade performance with longer cycle times. The mainstream media claims overturning the Chevron ruling makes it more difficult to protect Americans and the environment, but this isn’t true at all. All of the edicts that can longer be implemented by bureaucracy can still be implemented by Congress if justified. The problem for liberals is so many of these edicts are not justified.
And the headlines from the typical left-wing news outlets say that SCOTUS took power away from gvt agencies meaning they think that these agencies are supposed to make laws based on ambiguous laws passed by Congress. No, they just said that that laws are supposed to be written by the legislative branches, not the executive branch. And hopefully more lawsuits will be filed against regulations that went beyond what the underlying laws allowed.
Come the usual load of Poppycock from Greenpeace, Sierra Club NRDC and the M.S. Media Bottom Feeders that the SCOTUS has opened up that land for the Polluters when its the Greens themselves to are the Real Polluters with the Minds of the School Kids
And how many of the 11 states supply excess electricity to the 23 states?
I once worked in a lab that used deuterium lamps. They produced ozone at levels that we could smell. Concerned for our safety the company hired a consulting firm. The firm determined that the level of ozone was safe. If we could smell the ozone, it was certainly at a higher level than the “power plant pollution.” Starting with Obama the safe level of ozone has been lowered to ridiculous levels as a tool against our reliable power plants.
Lightning produces ozone. The air after a thunderstorm passes is refreshing.
Did anyone ask for harm statistics? No of course not. Because it’s socialism.
SCOTUS didn’t strike it Doreen but put a praise on the regulation while the cases make their way through the lower courts. Let’s hope the lower courts find against the EPA.