Don't Leave it to the Courts
Last morning, I woke up to yet another deeply disheartening Supreme Court decision. This time, it was the court’s ruling in West Virginia vs. Environmental Protection Agency, the biggest climate case to come before the court in more than a decade. In its 6 to 3 decision, the court’s conservative majority sided with 19 Republican states’ attorneys general and two coal companies to find that the EPA had overstepped its authority in regulating carbon emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act.
The decision — which restricts the ways in which the Biden Administration can reduce the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions — feels like a major step backward at a time when forward momentum on the climate front is more urgent than ever. It also raises significant questions about the regulatory power of federal agencies more broadly and has left many of us concerned about which federal powers the conservative court will target next.
As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent: “The Court appoints itself — instead of Congress or the expert agency — the decision maker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening.”
When I sifted through news stories, press releases, and legal analysis about the decision, I was slightly relieved to find at least one silver lining: the ruling could have been worse. As written, it is fairly narrow, and leaves the EPA with other tools at its disposal to regulate emissions from power plants.
Silver lining aside, the case feels like a wake-up call. It’s time for the Biden Administration to get creative — and bold — with its climate action planning. It’s time for even more cities and states to step up as climate leaders in their own right. And it’s time for us all to stay energized, engaged, and informed in the fight for a livable and just planet. Or as Bill McKibbon puts it, it’s time for us to “be the backlash.”
Zoe Loftus-Farren
Managing Editor, Earth Island Journal
Photo by: Craebby Crabbson / Flickr
|
