USA: Supreme Court limits Environmental Protection Agency's power to regulate carbon emissions from power plants; incl. company statements
On 30 June 2022, the US Supreme Court curtailed that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA)'s power to regulate carbon emissions. The majority of the Court said that " Congress - when the EPA was established - did not intent to delegate such significant decisions, to an agency". Some conservative states and coal companies were contesting a US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decision saying that the EPA could issue regulations on carbon emissions.
The UN spokesperson qualified this decision as a "setback in our fight against climate change”. The US President, Joe Biden, said that this ruling was "devastating".
Some companies welcomed the ruling but others such as Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and Con Edison said that "[t]he ability of the EPA to regulate in this area “is critical to the power companies”.