EPA Emissions Rule Stands, But Supreme Court Justices Indicate Regulation Is Vulnerable To Challenge
On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to postpone implementation of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule that sets emissions standards for power plants. Justices did indicate they could take up the case at a later time, however, and may eventually determine the regulation is unconstitutional. The motion to block the EPA regulation came from several Republican state attorneys general, energy companies, and other industry groups who wanted to put the rule on hold while their challenge in a federal appeals court moves forward.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh said immediately pausing the rule, as these challengers wanted, is unnecessary since compliance does not start until June 2025. Therefore, Justice Kavanaugh wrote, the rule’s challengers are “unlikely to suffer irreparable harm” as litigation over the regulation makes its way through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, especially since that court has fast-tracked the case. While the justices decided to keep the rule in place as lower courts consider EPA’s authority to limit the power sector’s planet-warming emissions, according to E&E News, some justices signaled a willingness to strike down the rule at a later date.
The goal of the EPA regulation is to reduce carbon pollution from new natural gas and existing coal-fired power plants. It requires companies in the power sector to either adopt technology that captures emitted greenhouse gases before they reach the atmosphere or, if they fail to do so, close heavy-polluting plants.
As legal experts explained, at the center of the legal dispute is the regulation’s focus on reducing carbon dioxide emissions by requiring some power plants to meet emissions standards similar to what they would achieve using “90 percent carbon capture,” which is a technology that relies on chemical solvents to remove 90 percent of the carbon dioxide from a plant’s exhaust stream and then permanently store it underground.