The desire to coddle polluters is strong in this one.
Houston Ship Channel, 1973
A Texas-led coalition of energy-producing states has asked the Supreme Court to hear a case involving the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases.
The petition, which was filed last week, comes 10 months after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the legal underpinnings of the Environmental Protection Agency’s first-ever rules limiting emissions of greenhouse gases.
In the 33-page petition, the states said the justices should hear their appeal because the new federal rules are hurting their economies. The EPA “is a runaway federal agency that must be reined in,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said.
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David Doniger, who directs climate policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the argument would be a non-starter with the court.
“The court has ruled that the Clean Air Act covers climate-altering pollution, just like any other pollution,” he said. “I don’t see it reaching a different conclusion now.”
The Supreme Court already ruled in 2007 that the EPA had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases, but that’s not stopping Abbott and his gang. This is as much about politics as anything else. Let’s hope SCOTUS remembers its ruling from six years ago and sends this appeal off to the dustbin.