{"id":11165,"date":"2022-03-03t20:38:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-03t20:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dpetrov.2create.studio\/planet\/wordpress\/the-environmental-case-about-nothing-could-be-everything\/"},"modified":"2022-03-03t20:38:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03t20:38:01","slug":"the-environmental-case-about-nothing-could-be-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/the-environmental-case-about-nothing-could-be-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"the environmental case about nothing \u2014 could be everything"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>by jorja siemons<\/strong><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">washington \u2014 supreme court justices stumbled this week when hearing arguments about the most impactful environmental case in a generation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">the problem, in part, is that the case concerns nothing.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cthere isn\u2019t really anything for the supreme court to consider,\u201d said joe minott, executive director and chief counsel of the clean air council. \u201cwhat\u2019s interesting to me is why the court should have agreed to this case at all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>west virginia v. environmental protection agency<\/em> concerns an obama-era environmental regulation \u2014 the <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.epa.gov\/epa\/cleanpowerplan\/fact-sheet-overview-clean-power-plan.html\">clean power plan (cpp)<\/a> \u2014&nbsp;that the court suspended in 2016 before it could ever take effect. then, the trump administration further squashed it, replacing it with the weaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/files\/2019-06\/documents\/bser_and_eg_fact_sheet_6.18.19_final.pdf\">affordable clean energy (ace)<\/a> rule.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">but coal industry representatives and a bloc of red states are now calling on the court to say congress, under obama\u2019s plan, didn\u2019t authorize the epa to exercise \u201cunbridled\u201d power to regulate power plants\u2019 greenhouse gas emissions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">if the justices agree \u2013\u2013 and at least five on the 6-3 conservative majority did voice some alignment \u2014 the agency\u2019s ability to control power plant emissions overall could be ravaged. this would be bad news for president biden, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2021\/04\/22\/fact-sheet-president-biden-sets-2030-greenhouse-gas-pollution-reduction-target-aimed-at-creating-good-paying-union-jobs-and-securing-u-s-leadership-on-clean-energy-technologies\/\">aims<\/a> to cut the nation\u2019s emissions in half by 2030.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201celectricity generation is a pervasive and essential aspect of modern life and squarely within the states\u2019 traditional zone,\u201d solicitor general lindsay see told the justices, speaking on behalf of state petitioners. \u201ccongress did not green light this transformative power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">red states pulled evidence from the clean air act, particularly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edf.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/files\/section-111-d-of-the-clean-air-act_the-legal-foundation-for-strong-flexible-cost-effective-carbon-pollution-standards-for-existing-power-plants.pdf\">section 111(d)<\/a>, which instructs the epa to set emission standards, taking into account factors like cost, that consider the application of the \u201cbest system of emission reduction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cit takes an existing pollution source as a given and asks what emissions rate is achievable for that source,\u201d said jacob roth, who represented private companies in the case.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">roth and fellow cpp opponents argued obama\u2019s plan would impose such strict emission standards that the energy sector\u2019s only option would be \u201cgeneration shifting,\u201d or transitioning away from dirtier options like coal to production technologies that use relatively clean natural gas and renewable energy to emit less.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">to some justices on monday, this argument walks an \u201cinside the fence\u201d line.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cinside the fence\u201d regulation would determine how a specific plant operates, which is how cpp opponents interpret the clean air act. \u201coutside the fence\u201d measures would regulate the nation\u2019s electricity grid as a whole \u2014 stretching epa authority.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201ctraditionally, epa regulations under section 111(d) have concerned only what goes on within the fenceline of the sources,\u201d said craig oren, professor emeritus of rutgers law school and clean air act expert. \u201cepa\u2019s clean power plan is a very extensive program that goes beyond what happens inside the fence line.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">to justice elena kagan, this argument has contradictions and bears no necessary relationship.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cinside-the-fence reform can be very small or it can be catastrophic,\u201d she said. \u201cthere are inside-the-fence technological fixes that could drive the entire coal industry out of business tomorrow.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">per justice clarence thomas\u2019 example, this could look like the epa requiring a power plant to install such a costly technology that it would be unable to compete in the electricity market.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\"><strong>applying the major questions doctrine<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">justices struggled on monday with whether this case applied to what\u2019s called the \u201cmajor questions doctrine,\u201d which limits federal agencies\u2019 power to affect consequential regulations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">according to <em>utility air regulatory group v. epa<\/em>\u2019s ruling, the court should block these regulations with \u201cvast economic and political significance\u201d unless congress\u2019 statute very clearly gives the agency authority.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cthis is a major question because it allows epa to determine what the power sector as a whole should look like and who can be in it,\u201d see argued.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">many justices appeared to be fumbling through how to apply this vague doctrine to a defunct rule.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201ci think the potential surprise here\u2026doesn\u2019t go to regulating co2\u2026.but is using a cap-and-trade regime,\u201d justice brett kavanaugh said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">he suggested that the epa threatened to install such a \u201cregime\u201d for any state non-compliant with the cpp. while the epa issued a model cap-and-trade plan, it <a href=\"https:\/\/content.sierraclub.org\/creative-archive\/sites\/content.sierraclub.org.creative-archive\/files\/pdfs\/1184-cpp-fip-hearings_fact_03_low.pdf\">never formally imposed<\/a> it on any states.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">justice sotomayor grappled with how the court could apply this doctrine given kagan\u2019s explanation of the \u201cfence\u201d contradiction.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201chow do we define this major question?\u201d she asked see. \u201cit can\u2019t be that what congress has chosen might lead in or outside the fence because there\u2019s some out-of-fence activities that don\u2019t necessarily lead to generation system-changing.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 dir=\"ltr\"><strong>what happens next<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">at least five right-leaning justices appeared to voice some agreement with cpp\u2019s opponents, increasing the likelihood the court may strike down the obama-era plan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">only justice amy coney barrett expressed a mixed opinion.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cif we\u2019re thinking about epa regulating greenhouse gases, well there\u2019s a match between the regulation and the agency\u2019s wheelhouse, right?\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">the court is expected to rule on the case by the end of its term in late june or early july. until then, environmental advocacy groups will continue to rally in support of the clean air act.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cif they do sort of move on this, then it\u2019s to me truly a very political thing to do,\u201d said minott of the clean air council. \u201cthat\u2019s a really dangerous precedent.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>jorja siemons reports: west virginia v. environmental protection agency concerns an obama-era environment regulation that the supreme court suspended in 2016. yet, it could be the most impactful environmental case in a generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9417,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4938],"tags":[46,3946,195],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-11165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pollution","tag-clean-air","tag-environmental-organizations","tag-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- this site is optimized with the yoast seo plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>the environmental case about nothing \u2014 could be everything - planet forward<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/the-environmental-case-about-nothing-could-be-everything\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_us\" \/>\n<meta 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