What’s Next After West Virginia v. EPA? – Clean Air / Pollution

The US Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v.
EPA was a setback for the Environmental Protection Agency,
but it leaves plenty of room for the Biden Administration to
prepare a new proposal this year to reduce power plant
emissions.

In a 6-3 decision, the high court said that the EPA’s Clean
Power Plan, promulgated to reduce carbon emissions from power
plants, exceeded the agency’s authority under the Clean Air
Act. The case was on appeal from a 2021 D.C. Circuit decision that
vacated Trump-era actions repealing the CPP and replacing it with
the Affordable Clean Energy rule.

The immediate implications of the decision for the power sector
may be minimal.

Although the CPP never went into effect, the power sector has
already reduced its emissions by more than the EPA’s original
goal under the plan, due primarily to low natural gas prices, the
reduced cost of renewable energy, and the high cost imposed on
coal-fired generation by other environmental regulations.

To read more, please click here for our full
article, published in Bloomberg Law.

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