On Thursday, the Supreme Court decided to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate power plant emissions. This is a significant setback in the fight against climate change.
The nation’s highest court ruled that West Virginia v. EPA is not authorized to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in an ideologically oriented decision. This case is based on the Clean Power Plan of former President Obama, which would have mandated how much carbon power plants can emit. It was not officially implemented because of legal challenges. The Trump administration rescinded it.
According to the court, it is not possible that Congress has given EPA authority to create a regulation scheme to limit carbon dioxide emissions. The court also stated that Congress should be responsible for making “decisions of such consequence and magnitude.”
Biden released a statement calling it a “devastating” decision that “risks harming our nation’s ability keep our air clean, and combat climate change.”
He said, “I will not rest in using my legal authorities to protect the public health and address the climate crisis.”
Some Republicans, including Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell applauded the decision. However, climate activists quickly condemned it.
Sweta Chakraborty is a climate and behavioral scientist. She was president of We Don’t Have Time. CBS News reported that the court “took a sledgehammer” to one of EPA’s most valuable tools.
“We’re discussing increased air pollution that has effects on human health, environment and general future trajectory towards climate warming, which is something we urgently need to veer away from,” she stated. She added later, “The fossil fuel interest behind this case claiming victory today are taking me back 50 years to when Big Oil, Big Oil, and other corporations could put deadly pollution into our water without any limits.”
It’s not only carbon emissions. She said that the Supreme Court’s decision sets a dangerous precedent in that any other EPA regulations may be thrown out.
Chakraborty stated that this was against all the science and evidence that suggests more regulation. “Having this type ruling is really saying that… we can unapologetically support polluting our communities in the United States.” This is a dangerous way to go.
Vickie Patton, Environmental Defense Fund general counsel, said that smokestacks and power plants are “one the largest sources” of global and national climate pollution. This is what the regulations in this case were intended to address.
She stated that Thursday’s Supreme Court decision undermines EPA’s authority to protect people against smokestack climate pollutants. This comes at a time when all evidence suggests we must act with extreme urgency.” “This is judicial excess.”
Patton stated to CBS News that the EPA was clear in its intention to create pollution standards from scratch and would not require any additional review by the Supreme Court. She said that “a number of” power companies supported the EPA’s authority. This included the American Medical Association (AMA) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).
According to the EPA 24% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions come from the industry sector. Most of this is due to the burning of fossil fuels. The main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, traps heat in the atmosphere and increases global temperatures.
Scientists around the globe and the United Nations have warned for years about the dangers of failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These include more severe storm damage and droughts and threats to the health and economy.
According to CBS News’ Pamela Falk, “Decisions such as today’s… make achieving the goals of Paris Agreement, for healthy, and liveable planets, more difficult.” Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General, stated in a statement. We must also remember that a crisis as severe as climate change is global in nature requires a global response. The actions of one nation cannot determine whether or not we achieve our climate goals.
To minimize the most severe effects of climate change, the U.N. has advised that global warming must be kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to preindustrial levels. Chakraborty stated that it is crucial to do so, because “human health is directly linked to the warming of our planet.”
“If we discuss this in terms human health impacts, then the more we increase temperature of the globe, the more that we’re increasing pollution as well which has negative adverse health outcomes,” she stated. She added, “those who are most likely to experience it, first and foremost, are our vulnerable communities.”
A 2021 study revealed that nearly one in five deaths each year worldwide is due to fossil fuel pollution. The World Health Organization has found that nearly 99% of the world’s population is suffering from poor quality air. This is mainly due to fossil fuel emissions.
The U.S. has seen the effects of climate change most severely on low-income communities and peoples of color. These areas are home to many industrial facilities, which pollute the air and cause health problems for those who live nearby.
Chakraborty stated that people living in these areas will not only experience poorer air quality but also be more susceptible to the effects of rising global temperatures. These conditions will only be exacerbated by an increase in fossil fuel emission in the absence federal regulation.
“These redlined areas experience an average of higher temperatures, a few degrees to five or six more degrees, than their more wealthy neighbors. She said that this is dangerous for the health of human beings. “… These communities will continue to be affected. With the Supreme Court’s decision, we are witnessing an ongoing legacy of environmental racism.”
This is a topic that Michele Roberts, coordinator for the Environmental Justice and Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJAHL), feels very close to home. CBS News interviewed her while she was visiting her family in Wilmington Delaware. This is a place where many people of color have felt the impacts of climate change.
Redlining and housing segregation have led to flooding in communities where majority Black and Brown residents are most vulnerable. Those problems will only get worse if we don’t take the necessary steps to lower rising temperatures.
She said that she was a Black woman and post-Freddie Gray, ‘I can’t breathe’ and Black Lives Matter, and that the Supreme Court’s decision would be a major turning point for the country. My father, who was 87 years old, died knowing that these were happening a week before. My father, who was 87, said that it was now on them. He said that if everyone has the common sense to work together, it is possible to get it done.
Many experts doubt that the government will have any influence on how industries reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Chakraborty stated that the efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are too few and far between.
She stated that “self-regulation is not possible in the fossil fuel sector.” “… It’s clear that oil and gas executives are motivated by the desire to keep their shareholders happy so that Congress can pass legislation to permit oil and gas drilling.
Chakraborty stated that strict regulations are the only way to reduce emissions. He also noted that revamped policies such as clean energy tax credits or ending oil and gas subsidy are crucial in dealing with the crisis.
“With this Supreme Court ruling, we are actually going back to supporting dirt energy. She stated that… we are allowing for a “free-for-all”. It couldn’t have been worse. “We are currently in a climate emergency.”
Patton stated that the response is “all hands on deck,” especially when it comes to the plans of the Biden administration and the president’s promise to cut climate pollution by half by 2030.
She stated, “That’s the commitment we all have to work towards, to save lives and build a stronger clean-energy economy for all.”
Roberts stated that she hopes the court’s setback will give her an “extra push” to change.
She said, “We came together due to the failures and inconsistencies regarding the climate and with climate polices that really weren’t impacting everyone.” “… Now is the time to organize, educate and mobilize. We’re prepared to do that.
