In a follow up story to a previous article I wrote on the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) via the Clean Air Act the Supreme Court announced their ruling today. The Court ruled, in a close decision, to allow the EPA to continue to oversee the regulation of greenhouse gases particularly in the industry areas of energy and other industrial manufacturing.
The decision from the high court did place some limitations on the authority of the EPA, but for the most part, it upheld the notion that the EPA had the authority to regulate the air emissions policies relative to current and future proposed manufacturing plants.
In my initial article on this subject, the industry leaders in many segments related to energy and other industrial manufacturing groups were upset regarding the requirements instituted by the EPA relative to the construction of new coal plants and other energy generating facilities.
These groups maintained then, and their position has not changed despite the ruling today, that the EPA overreached their authority in interpreting the Clean Air Act and that the proposed limits on carbon dioxide emissions would require new technology which was cost prohibitive. They argued that only Congress, and not the EPA, had the authority to enact any such regulations on their business.
Furthermore, these industry groups asserted that these changes would result in a decrease in new coal plant construction and a net loss in jobs. They challenged the EPA in multiple lawsuits which were combined and heard as one case by the Supreme Court, which reached the final verdict earlier today.
Big Impact
The ruling today will have a big impact moving forward on the future of coal and other energy producing plants. The industry is looking at having to adapt and change their normal business practices, which will have a cost both in time and money to those respective manufacturers.
I had mentioned in my prior article that these energy producers may attempt to pass along the increase in the cost of these plant upgrades to the consumer. That would mean increased energy costs for many already cash-strapped American families.
The one section of today’s ruling where the Supreme Court provided some limitations to the EPA was with regard to the size of the industry types they could regulate within the confines of the Clean Air Act.
Initially, the EPA was seeking to regulate entities which emitted 100 – 250 tons of greenhouse gases and had to increase that amount to 75,000 – 100,000 tons of emissions in order to adequately address the issues with air quality. The Supreme Court decision today reinforced that methodology in their opinion the EPA does not have the authority to start mandating that business across a wide scale have to endure a permitting process.
In response to the assertion that the agency did not have the proper authority to require these changes to the policy, the Court wrote that, in essence, the EPA was acting in the best interests of Congress and the American people by regulating this area and saving the costs of creating a separate government program or regulatory entity to do so.
This decision has huge positive environmental protection ramifications because it provides the EPA with the authority to regulate the entities which contribute the most carbon emissions into our air. The effective management of these emissions will have a dramatic impact on the protection of the ozone layer and reverse the negative aspects of global warming and climate change.
The Future
The EPA, through the ruling today, will be able to regulate the entities responsible for 83 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The industry groups involved and their representative interest groups are obviously unhappy with the decision today, and they will mobilize a concerted effort to file more legal suits and injunctions in an effort to reverse this decision.
In the end, whether you think the EPA overreached its authority or not, the vast emissions of huge amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has been linked in numerous scientific studies to have a negative effect on the quality of our air.
I also think that the government should look into some sort of cap on the amount the energy industry could potentially raise on rates to the consumer. I understand they have to maintain profitability, but it would be patently unfair to pass along a large percentage of the cost to the average American family based on these new potential regulatory requirements.
A government sanctioned regulatory process, whether it is via the EPA or Congress, was bound to be instituted based on the evidence at hand. I know I would like our children and future generations to be able to take a deep breath when they turn 30, and I think we all have a vested interest in having cleaner air. If you disagree with that sentiment, then this society has more problems than I initially thought we had.
(Statistics and some background information courtesy of The Washington Post and Associated Press)