Reaction: EPA decision a victory for energy consumers

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in West Virginia vs. EPA, ruling that the Clean Air Act did not specifically authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Now, any greenhouse gas regulations would need to be passed by Congress. 

“Electricity prices are rising dramatically, and our electric grid is already facing the possibility of blackouts,” said Isaac Orr, an American Experiment policy fellow specializing in energy and environmental policy. “EPA regulations governing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants would only make these problems worse. Decisions of this magnitude should be made by elected representatives in Congress, not by unelected bureaucrats in Washington D.C. This ruling was crucial to reigning in the overreach of the administrative state.”  

“We applaud the Supreme Court’s rejection of the EPA’s improper attempt to do what Congress has ‘considered and rejected’ on multiple occasions,” added James Dickey, an attorney with the Upper Midwest Law Center. “Chief Justice Roberts’ well-reasoned opinion thoroughly debunks any attempt to ‘substantially restructure the American energy market’ through the EPA instead of Congress.”