Supreme Court Orders EPA to Reconsider GHG Regulation


The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, said that the Environmental Protection Agency did not follow the requirement of the Clean Air Act when it opted not to order ordered cuts in carbon emissions from new cars and trucks in 2003.

The Bush administration had said the Clean Air Act confers broad discretion on the EPA to decide whether to regulate. The government also contended that the states lack the legal standing to sue because they can’t show they would reap any environmental benefit from EPA regulation.

Stevens rejected that argument:

…the rise in sea levels associated with global warming has already harmed and will continue to harm Massachusetts. The risk of catastrophic harm, though remote, is nevertheless real. That risk would be reduced to some extent if petitioners received the relief they seek. We therefore hold that petitioners have standing to challenge the EPA’s denial of their rulemaking petition…

A reduction in domestic emissions would slow the pace of global emissions increases, no matter what happens elsewhere…

EPA has refused to comply with this clear statutory command. Instead, it has offered a laundry list of reasons not to regulate…EPA has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change. Its action was therefore “arbitrary, capricious, … or otherwise not in accordance with law.

The decision will also help efforts by states including California to enact their own climate-change regulations. In fighting those rules, automakers have pointed to the EPA’s conclusion that carbon dioxide isn’t an “air pollutant” subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act. The majority rejected the agency’s interpretation, saying greenhouse gases are air pollutants.

[Bloomberg]

MASSACHUSETTS v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY:

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