Refusal to Block Biden Administration’s Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Enforcing environmental policies in the United States is very complicated as the Supreme Court ruled differently in cases about expanding or limiting the power of the EPA. The United States Supreme Court in early October 2024 decided that it would refuse to stop the Biden methane emission rules from pipelines, tanks, and oil wells. The Supreme Court's decision to deny listening to the case is a significant setback for oil and gas corporations and Republican lawmakers. However, the court’s order is a win for the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as they push to create new legislation and regulations to combat climate change in the United States [1].

In terms of limiting the power of the EPA, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 597, U.S. 697 (2022), the Supreme Court lacks the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, citing section 111 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7411(d) [2]. This case is fundamentally a major loss for the Democrats as they constantly advocate to lower greenhouse gas emissions in the near future. Similarly, in 2023, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the enforcement of the EPA’s “Good Neighbor Act” under the Clean Air Act [3]. The Good Neighbor rule created new regulations for states to comply with air quality standards. For example, in 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (2022), which incentivizes people with tax credits to buy electric vehicles while also investing millions to capture and sequester carbon dioxide from the air [4].

While Democrats try to push to pass their environmental policies, Republicans aggressively want to pass their anti-environmental policies. According to H. Rept. 118-155, Republicans want to slash the EPA’s budget by 39% for the 2023 fiscal year [5]. Republicans are in constant battle with the EPA as they despise any environmental policies from passing in Congress. There’s clear tension between Democrats and Republicans about environmental policies, and the Supreme Court has mixed feelings about the environment in past cases up until now.

The Supreme Court could undoubtedly accept to hear other cases related to the EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gasses. Democrats and Republicans rely on the Supreme Court’s decisions to decide whether to draft environmental legislation for the country. Since the Supreme Court is hesitant to hear the case about trying to stop the Biden Administration from regulating greenhouse gasses, Americans will still be confused about what the environment we manipulate will be like in the future.

Sources:

1. Greg Stohr, Supreme Court Rejects Push to Halt Biden Methane-Emissions Rules, Bloomberg News, (October 4, 2024), https://www.bloomberglaw.com/bloomberglawnews/environment-and-energy/X1GL2AMS000000?bna_news_filter=environment-and-energy
2. West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 597 U.S. 697 (2022).
3. Nina Totenberg, Jordan Thomas, Supreme Court halts EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor Plan,’ NPR, (June 27, 2024), https://www.npr.org/2024/06/27/nx-s1-4996428/supreme-court-good-neighbor-plan#:~:text=The U.S. Supreme Court on,halted the rule pending further
4. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, H.R. 5376 (2022).
5. Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, H.R. 4821 (2023).