Last week, in a case brought before the Supreme Court – West Virginia v. EPA – the Court restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants, in a 6-3 decision.
The ruling effectively limits EPA’s ability to regulate industry and could limit government agencies' capacity to establish certain new regulations, impacting the many industrial hubs along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast Region, and more.
The lawsuit involved in this case challenged the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which sought to transition electricity generation from coal to natural gas and then renewables.
Chief Justice John Roberts and the court’s five other conservative members said Congress, not the EPA, has the power to create a broad system of cap-and-trade regulations to limit emissions from existing power plants to help transition the country from coal to renewable energy. (A cap-and-trade system is one policy mechanism to reduce emissions.)
“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,’” Roberts wrote. “But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme.”
“Today's decision by the Supreme Court is a step in the right direction for our great nation," tweeted Mike Moncla, president of the Louisiana Oil & Gas Association (LOGA), following the ruling. "This decision takes governmental overreach from appointed bureaucrats and puts it back into the hands of legislators.”
Moncla said LOGA looks forward to more balanced decisions toward the oil and gas industry in the future.
“I applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the EPA’s power grab and rein in this lawless Biden Administration," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. "Texas joined other states in this case to stop D.C. bureaucrats from imposing costly regulations without any authority from the people’s elected representatives in Congress. Today’s landmark victory against an out-of-control administration is also a big win for Americans who worry about skyrocketing energy costs due to expensive federal regulations that threaten our energy industry."
"President Biden cannot keep attacking the energy industry and the hardworking men and women who power our nation," said Abbott.
