Month: June 2022

[Serious Answers Only]

The court divided 6-3 along ideological lines in finding that Congress did not grant the EPA the authority under a provision of the Clean Air Act to devise emissions caps. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, while the court’s three-member liberal bloc dissented.

Source: CBS News

This ruling has far reaching consequences.

Beyond power plants:

My understanding is that this guts existing EPA regulations and now requires Congress to pass laws with specific limits on specific chemicals in order to regulate emissions.

Beyond EPA:

It guts environmental protection (basically ruling that the EPA cannot issue regulation on anything that it does not have explicit statutory authority on) but does much more. By elevating/codifying the “major questions” doctrine, the decision makes it nearly impossible for agencies to regulate with any confidence, from the EPA to the CDC to OSHA to USDA and FDA. And it throws basically every regulatory decision of the last several decades open to challenge.

Questions:

• Those 2 comments from a reddit thread are up for debate, if any legal scholars want to chime in.

• Where are these power plants? Is this correct?

• What are the specific health impacts of this ruling for people? What are the possible diseases/illnesses that will result from this ruling?

• When do you think these health effects will occur? Over the next year? Next 5?

• Are people living in River Oaks safer than someone living in Third Ward? Does it affect those differently if they’re living within 610? Within Beltway 8? East or West of I45?

• Is there any way for average citizens to protect themselves from the harmful effects of this ruling?