The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will continue to protect health and ecosystems in the face of last month's U.S. Supreme Court decision restricting the agency's power to limit energy sector emissions, the EPA administrator said in a statement.
In his statement issued June 30, the same day the Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Administrator Michael Regan reiterated that EPA's priority continued to be the protection of human health, "especially those who are on the front lines of environmental pollution."
"Make no mistake: we will never waver from that responsibility," Regan said. "While I am deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision, we are committed to using the full scope of EPA's authorities to protect communities and reduce the pollution that is driving climate change. We will move forward to provide certainty and transparency for the energy sector, which will support the industry’s ongoing efforts to grow our clean energy economy."
Earlier in the day, the high court voted 6-3 that the EPA had overreached in the power generation case, ruling that climate change mandates must come from Congress.
The case, a consolidation of three related lawsuits filed against EPA, arose in the wake of the Trump administration's repeal of the 2015 Clean Power Plan, along with its guidelines to states about carbon dioxide emissions limitations on power plants. In its place, the former administration issued the Affordable Clean Energy Rule (ACE), which eliminated or deferred the previous guidelines.
A lower court vacated ACE, ruling it was arbitrary and capricious. The Supreme Court's decision reversed and remanded the lower court's ruling.
The question before the Supreme Court was whether EPA has "authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions in virtually any industry, so long as it considers cost, non-air impacts, and energy requirements?"
The Supreme Court's ruling came at a very bad time, Regan said in his statement.
"At this moment, when the impacts of the climate crisis are becoming ever more disruptive, costing billions of dollars every year from floods, wildfires, droughts and sea level rise, and jeopardizing the safety of millions of Americans, the court's ruling is disheartening," he said.
"Ambitious climate action presents a singular opportunity to ensure U.S. global competitiveness, create jobs, lower costs for families, and protect people’s health and wellbeing, especially those who’ve long suffered the burden of inaction," Regan added. "The EPA will move forward with lawfully setting and implementing environmental standards that meet our obligation to protect all people and all communities from environmental harm."
