Staff Reports
The Supreme Court is getting ready to stick it to the Biden administration’s air pollution policy, and it looks like they’re going to do it with a big red “DENIED” stamp.
The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, put out this regulation called the “good neighbor” plan, which basically tells states they can’t blow their pollution onto their neighbors’ property. Sounds like common sense, right? But not everyone was on board with this idea. Some upwind states, like Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia, said “Hold on, EPA, you’re overstepping your boundaries by making us follow these rules.”
Supreme Court seems ready to block ‘good neighbor’ pollution rule https://t.co/bmOc2FBeCX https://t.co/bmOc2FBeCX
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 22, 2024
During the big court showdown, the conservative justices started grilling the Biden administration’s lawyer, Malcolm Stewart, and they didn’t hold back. They were all like, “Why should we let this rule fly, especially when it only affects 11 states now instead of the original 23?” Chief Justice John Roberts even chimed in and basically said, “Hey, if this rule can’t be enforced on all the states it’s supposed to, what’s the point?”
And can we just take a moment to appreciate their skepticism about federal power? It’s like they’re saying, “No way, EPA, you can’t just go around making rules about the environment and climate whenever you feel like it.” They handed down a decision back in 2022 that slapped the EPA’s wrist when it came to regulating carbon emissions, and last year, they put the brakes on the Clean Water Act too. Talk about putting the “no” in regulatory.
On the other side, the Democratic-appointed justices were all like, “Should we really put the brakes on this rule while the lower courts are still figuring things out?” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a Biden pick, even called it “fairly extraordinary” to put the kibosh on the whole thing.
But, hold on to your hats, because West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey had something to say about all this. He’s not having it with this EPA rule, claiming it would lead to less energy production and mess with the power grid. He added in a sassy tone, “The EPA will keep trying to legislate and bypass Congress’s authority — and it has been settled by the Supreme Court: the EPA must regulate within the express boundaries of the statute that Congress passed.” Burn, EPA, burn.
So, while the EPA is trying to expand this rule to five more states, the Supreme Court is hanging over them like a big dark cloud, deciding if they should squash the whole thing. It’s like a legal thriller, but with a lot less drama and a lot more debate. Let the air pollution showdown continue!
