The Blog

2022-

2022-07-03 f
THE STATE OF THE DISUNION VI

Federal Behemoth Has Been Restrained

Unelected bureaucrats cannot put us in the dark
nor freeze us in winter nor broil us in summer.

WEST VIRGINIA et al. v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY et al.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf

Finally, the Court has no occasion to decide whether the statutory phrase “system of emission reduction” refers exclusively to measures that improve the pollution performance of individual sources, such that all other actions are ineligible to qualify as the BSER. It is pertinent to the Court’s analysis that EPA has acted consistent with such a limitation for four decades. But the only question before the Court is more narrow: whether the “best system of emission reduction” identified by EPA in the Clean Powe r Plan was within the authority granted to the Agency in Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. For the reasons given, the answer is no.
[...]
Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible “solution to the crisis of the day.” New York v. United States, 505 U. S. 144, 187 (1992). But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme in Section 111(d). A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body. The judgment of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is reversed, and the cases are remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion
It is so ordered.

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