From THE DAILY CALLER
Nick Pope
Contributor
The Supreme Court declined to block two Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations on Friday in a blow to red-hot states and industry interests challenging the rules.
The court did not intervene to pause the EPA’s rule tightening limits on mercury in coal-fired power plant emissions and methane produced by oil and gas production, meaning the rule was clearly in effect while the challenger’s lawsuits made their way through the lower courts. , according to Reuters. Organizations and states that filed emergency appeals to the Supreme Court have argued that the agency is exceeding its legal authority to issue regulations under the Clean Air Act and that the EPA is curtailing states’ ability to set their own emissions rules.
The mercury regulations would reduce the amount of the toxic metal allowed by all coal-fired power plants by 67% and would tighten lignite coal plants’ mercury emission limits by 70%, according to Reuters. Challengers – which include oil and gas developers, mining companies and groups focused on the power market – argue that the EPA overreached in issuing new limits and that the regulation will jeopardize America’s energy reliability by effectively forcing the premature retirement of coal-fired power plants. (RELATED: Officials Tell Biden’s EPA That Aggressive Green Power Scheme Has Serious Flaws, Documents Show)
‘Inevitable and Foreseeable’: Grid Operator Asks Court to Nix EPA Rule to Save Electric System From Collapsehttps://t.co/0LAt8gHVSN
– Daily Caller (@Daily Caller) September 18, 2024
The methane rules, which also relate to a type of emissions called “volatile organic compounds,” are designed to limit flaring, or burning off extra methane during the process of producing oil and gas, according to Reuters. The rules also require developers to monitor potential methane leaks from oil and gas infrastructure, as well as create a special methane leak reporting program for methane “super polluters.”
“EPA is pleased that the Supreme Court denied its application to stay the revised Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS),” an EPA spokesperson said in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The agency believes the revised MATS rules, which will ensure that the state’s coal-fired power plants meet new standards for hazardous air pollutants that reflect the latest advances in pollution control technology, are firmly within the mandate of the Clean Air Act. .”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined in July and August to temporarily block the two rules while they reviewed them, according to Reuters.
The Supreme Court has taken steps to block major regulatory moves by the EPA in recent years, such as the 2022 ruling in West Virginia v. It was the EPA that unveiled its “Clean Power Plan” in 2014 to reshape America’s electricity grid to make it more reliable. green energy instead of fossil fuels.
In June, the court also struck down “Chevron deference,” a precedent that previously allowed agencies like the EPA broad discretion to interpret ambiguous statutes. The decision has sparked challenges to some of the most aggressive regulatory actions taken to date by the Biden-Harris EPA.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comments from the EPA.
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