In a major ruling on its last day of session, the U.S. Supreme Court said today the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the authority to broadly regulate carbon emissions from power plants if it doesn’t have authority granted by Congress.

The decision in West Virginia v. EPA, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, passed 6-3, with only the Leftist members of the court dissenting.

Alaska joined the lawsuit with 18 other states on behalf of West Virginia.

The majority ruled that the Clean Air Act does not give the EPA the sweeping authority it has taken starting in the Obama Administration in requiring existing coal-fired power plants to either reduce their generation of electricity or subsidize the increased generation of natural gas, wind or solar energy.

Rather, the court ruled, this authority lies with Congress.

“Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day,'” Justice Roberts wrote. “But it is not plausible that Congress gave EPA the authority to adopt on its own such a regulatory scheme.”

“A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body,” he added.

Power the Future’s Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck said the ruling was correct, in that the EPA cannot act in a way not expressly given to it by Congress.

“Today’s decision tells us what we already knew, that the Biden Administration is using executive powers to usurp congressional authority and doing so illegally,” Whitbeck said. “Now maybe they can get back to the business of restoring American energy independence and reversing the all-out attacks on America’s greatest industry.”

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissenting opinion that was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.

In the dissent, the three complained the court should not even have taken the case since the Biden Administration is getting ready to issue a new rule.

Kagan wrote that the majority’s decision “rests on one claim alone: that [power] generation shifting is just too new and too big a deal for Congress to have authorized it.” She added that the “stakes here are high.” Generation shifting is a shift in electricity production from higher-emitting to lower-emitting producers. 

Very interesting. The US Supreme Court does not like the Joe Biden policies and how his Administration is ruining the economy of the country, and is being defined by moral turpitude. So rather than wait for another election cycle to hopefully correct all of the wrongs of the Biden Adminstration, the Supreme Court just stepped in and took care of business on its own. Of course, we have The Donald to thank for all of this, with his beautiful appointments to the Court.

It’s about time. The Democrats have been weaponizing these agencies for decades. The EPA is a shining example of how an agency, with zero elected officials, can dictate at will the direction (and demise) of our country. The fear of rising oceans has again risen so we need to ask Obama why he’s spent millions on two palatial ocean front estates (he knows the truth).

Sometimes agencies are comfortable acting without express delegated authority in other agencies also. Applying the US Constitution should always be done for the people. Thank you President Trump for carefully choosing Supreme Court appointments who give credence to the great US Constitution.

It’s a shame we can’t get a Supreme court ruling on the Keystone XL and Biden continual interference in permitting of both oil drilling and refinery creation and expansion. Biden is determined to make oil and gas so expensive that he breaks the economy. Pray that we see a red landslide in November.

Thank God for that. Brandon was gonna use the EPA to attack the Permian Basin.

This should also affect other arbitrary rules from federal regulators.

Are you listening Interior Department?

When I left North Dakota in 1983 my parents were both lighting and heating their home with electricity at less than a Penney a KW. This was because Valley City had its own city owned electric utility that had bought into a coal fired generating plant in Wyoming and the residents were reaping the benefit from it.It is impossible to produce electricity cheaper than thru a coal fired plant in the USA e except possibly thru hydro power which of course has a huge start up cost and environmental issue. Coal is both dirt cheap and easily obtainable. It is also fairly easy to restore the topsoil. Also the cheapest way to produce heat.

OMG! We’re all gonna DIE!

If in doubt seek out the nearest Karen but wear a mask. They spit when they spew their venom.

It’s about time they got pimp-slapped and shoved back into their Constitutional cage.

Of course the leftist media is reporting it that the Supreme Court ruled that the planet should burn, sadly some will actually believe that is what SCOTUS ruled without ever taking the time to read the decision.

At last, after more than 50 years of unfettered power grabbing, the Supreme Court has finally delivered a major blow against the Bureaucracy! Well done!

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.