Supreme Court sets dramatic limit on EPA
In a decision that could begin a rollback of decades of Federal Over - reach in Alaska and the rest of the U.S., the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protec - tion Agency (EPA) has overstepped
its authority in limiting power plant emissions. The ruling has far larger implica - tions, going to the heart of how much power bureaucrats wield in setting rules not specifically authorized by
Congress. That power wielded by non-elected administrators has been the driving force of limits on mining and resource development in Alaska for more than a generation. The U.S. Supreme Court in June ruled that the EPA does not have the authority under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to enforce proposed power plant emission limitations in West Virginia v. EPA. The majority court ruling cited on the Major Ques - tions Doctrine; a doctrine that has never been used in a Supreme Court opinion. The final ruling was 6-3 on ideo - logical lines, the most dramatic demonstration yet of the long-last - ing impact that the new conservative justices appointed by Donald Trump will have on future decisions. According to Jurist.org, a source following the Court: “It allows for any deference to agencies’ interpre - tations of relevant legislation to be disregarded when a looming politi - cal concern is implicated in an agen - cy rule. The court interprets this to mean that “given both separation of powers principles and a practical un - derstanding of legislative intent, the agency must point to ‘clear congres - sional authorization’ for the authori - ty it claims.” Prior to this case, under the Obama Administration, the court stayed a graduated emissions “cap and trade” plan. Then under the Trump admin - istration, the plan was scrapped en - tirely, implementing a new rule based primarily on a state-to-state ap - proach. Finally, under the Biden ad - ministration, the EPA began crafting a new emissions rule, which did not go into effect. Several states and coal compa - nies sued to block another attempt at an emissions plan of the type under the Obama administration. The court granted certiorari on appeal, despite the fact that this is usually not done until a rule is in effect, and the Biden rule is not yet enforceable. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts concludes that
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The Alaska Miner
Summer 2022
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