Legal Activity
Supreme Court Sets Up Limited EPA Greenhouse Gas Challenge
On Tuesday, October 15, the Supreme Court granted and consolidated six petitions for certiori to hear a limited appeal of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulation of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles. The Court’s decision is limited to a single question: “Whether EPA permissibly determined that its regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles triggered permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act for stationary sources that emit greenhouse gases.”
At the same time, the Court chose not to grant certiori for a number of petitions seeking to challenge the EPA’s 2009 endangerment finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten human health and welfare. Consequently, the Court was unwilling to address whether EPA possesses authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, and at this time, only appears willing to address the substance of the EPA’s regulation itself.
