Press Release: 2022-07-01

AG Healey Issues Statement Following Supreme Court Decision in West Virginia v. EPA

AG Healey Issues Statement Following Supreme Court Decision in West Virginia v. EPA:



6/30/2022



BOSTON — AG Healey today issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA. Today’s decision limits the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants.



“We are deeply disappointed in the Supreme Court’s misguided decision giving in to the coal industry and its scheme to prevent regulation of harmful greenhouse gas emissions. The D.C. Circuit had correctly and soundly rejected the Trump Administration’s do-nothing rule, which would have extended the lives of dirty and aging coal-fired plants and worsened pollution of our air. Today’s decision marks a step backward in our collective effort to combat the climate crisis. But my office remains committed to using every tool available and working with EPA and our state partners to address climate change, protect public health, and support our clean energy economy.” 



BACKGROUND:  



President Barack Obama announced the Clean Power Plan in August 2015. The Clean Power Plan was the culmination of a decade-long effort to partner with states to require mandatory cuts in the emissions of climate change pollution from fossil fuel-burning power plants under the Clean Air Act. The rule was expected to eliminate as much climate change pollution as is emitted by more than 160 million cars a year.  



Shortly after the EPA finalized the Clean Power Plan, a group of state and industry petitioners challenged the rule in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In November 2015, AG Healey joined a coalition of 25 states, cities, and counties that intervened in defense of the Clean Power Plan. In February 2016, the Supreme Court stayed the rule pending court review, but after President Trump took office, the D.C. Circuit suspended the lawsuit challenging the Plan while EPA considered how to implement the then President’s  executive order vowing to eliminate it.  



In June 2019, the Trump Administration finalized a rule to roll back and replace the Clean Power Plan. The replacement rule, the so-called Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, was expected to achieve virtually no reduction in dangerous pollution from power plants. The new rule also prohibited states from participating in regional market-based trading programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) as a means for complying with the Clean Air Act and reducing emissions. Upon EPA’s finalization of the ACE Rule, the D.C. Circuit dismissed the Clean Power Plan lawsuit. 



In August 2019, AG Healey joined 22 attorneys general and six local governments in suing EPA to challenge the Trump Administration’s repeal of the Clean Power Plan and its ACE Rule. In January 2021, the D.C. Circuit ruled in favor of AG Healey and the coalition and ruled that those EPA actions were unlawful. In April 2021, a group of states and industry interests led by West Virginia petitioned the Supreme Court to review the D.C. Circuit’s decision. The Court granted certiorari and heard argument in February 2022.