FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 30, 2022 – Washington, DC. (United States) — Today the US Supreme Court limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act. The decision in West Virginia v. EPA undermines efforts to reduce climate-warming pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants.
Nikki Reisch, Director of CIEL’s Climate and Energy Program, issued the following statement:
“With this decision, the Supreme Court’s majority has once again undermined rather than upheld rights, this time dealing a blow to the government’s ability to protect public health and the environment. The ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits the tools available to the federal government to tackle the accelerating climate emergency, imperiling people and the planet alike. We need to curtail the fossil fuel industry’s power over climate policy and influence on court decisions, not the government’s power to end fossil fuel-driven climate destruction.
Tying the hands of the EPA to curb fossil fuel pollution hurts communities of color and low-income communities first and worst. In holding that EPA can’t shift power plants off dirty energy absent express authorization from Congress, today’s decision will exacerbate climate and racial injustice, particularly for communities on the frontlines of the fossil economy and the climate chaos it’s causing. Regulations of air pollutants, including those emitted by fossil fuel power plants, have been critical in reducing harm to fenceline communities. Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities are more likely to live near a power plant, are more likely to die or suffer health problems from air pollution, and are already disproportionately affected by the impacts of climate change.
To be clear: this ruling is not championed by the people of West Virginia, but by fossil fuel interests that have dominated the state’s political landscape and captured its politicians for decades. Far from being responsible for this decision, the people living in West Virginia are among those who will be most harmed by it.
In siding with the fossil fuel industry that spearheaded this challenge to effective climate action, the Court’s majority confirms just how dangerous a captured judiciary is for human rights and the environment. Without significant reform, the US Supreme Court will remain beholden to a right-wing, anti-regulatory agenda that serves corporate interests over the public interest. Disturbingly, the logic of the decision today puts other critical regulatory powers at risk, signaling that the Court may take aim at the ability of other agencies to implement vital rules curbing corporate conduct that harms the public and jeopardizes human rights.
Today’s decision cannot and will not, however, alter the imperative to end reliance on fossil fuels or deflect the mounting pressure on governments to act in the face of the existential threat that is runaway climate change. This decision underscores the urgent need not only for meaningful congressional action on climate but for the Biden administration and state governments across the country to use the full extent of their remaining powers to accelerate the transition to a fossil-free future.
They can do that by immediately halting new oil, gas, and coal developments, ending public subsidies for fossil fuels, and investing in proven, available, community-driven solutions like renewable energy and demand reduction.
Media contact
Rossella Recupero | press@ciel.org,