West Virginia vs. EPA: An Environmental Regulations Case with Broad Implications for Agency Power
The ACOEL webpage “About Us” states that we are to be “Advocates for environmental law and process for a better environmental future.” Allow me to throw down this gauntlet to Members: What “better environmental future” is the...more
The Chairman of the United States House of Representatives Committee on Small Business (“Committee”) sent a February 14th letter to United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Administrator Michael S. Reagan...more
PM NAAQS: Already behind schedule is perhaps the mostly widely impactful rule change EPA has proposed in many years: a lowering of the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). EPA has...more
EPA Again Proposes to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Power Plants - Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published new proposed rules in the Federal Register to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions...more
On the last day of its 2022 term, the Supreme Court curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to cut carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants. The court held that the “generation shifting”...more
Introduction - In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court confirmed a robust “major questions” canon of construction that will restrain administrative agencies’ ability to regulate on issues of “vast economic and...more
On June 30, 2022, in a 6-3 decision, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. writing for the majority, the United States Supreme Court issued a decision in West Virginia v. EPA limiting the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon...more
On June 30, 2022 the Supreme Court decided West Virginia v. EPA. This case not only has environmental law implications, but also speaks directly to executive agency overreach in potentially many other contexts. On its face,...more
What Happened: West Virginia v. EPA - In West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jones Day client, the North American Coal Corporation, and determined that the EPA did not have clear authorization from...more
On June 30, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court held in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 597 U.S. ___ (2022), that the Clean Air Act did not clearly authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create the...more
Key Points- For the first time, the Supreme Court has invoked explicitly the “major questions doctrine”—which requires Congress to speak clearly when authorizing agency action in certain extraordinary cases—to strike...more
On June 30th, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. EPA. The Court concluded that the EPA had exceeded its authority under the Clean Air Act by establishing emission caps in the Clean Power...more
On June 30, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in West Virginia et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et al., which invalidated the Clean Power Plan (“CPP”), an Obama-era regulation...more
On June 30, 2022, the United States Supreme Court struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Clean Power Plan ("CPP"), limiting the agency's authority to address climate change, in the case West Virginia v....more
On June 30, 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in West Virginia v. EPA, a case challenging the scope of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA’s”) authority to regulate...more
On June 30, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided West Virginia et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, holding that the EPA lacks authority under Section 7411(d) of the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions from...more
On June 30, the last day of an historic term, the Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. EPA. As expected, the Court struck down EPA's 2015 Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was intended to reduce greenhouse gas...more
The US Supreme Court’s recent invalidation of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan under the “major questions” doctrine could make it more difficult for the Environmental Protection Agency to craft a similar regulation in the...more
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions based on shifting from existing generation sources under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA)....more
In a 6-3 opinion, the high court struck a major blow to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA), ruling the EPA cannot provide states with the right to issue regulations reducing the amount of carbon...more
Last week, the United States Supreme Court held in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (No. 20-1530) that EPA may not rely upon Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to “force a nationwide transition away from the...more
The Court’s Decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency Opens the Door For Courts to Reconsider and Potentially Erode Chevron Deference - Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced a 6-3 decision...more
Many have characterized West Virginia v. EPA as a decision depriving EPA of an important tool to address climate change under the Clean Air Act. The decision is better viewed as steering EPA away from a flawed regulatory...more
After seven years, three presidential administrations, and two appearances before the Supreme Court, the Obama Administration’s “Clean Power Plan” (“CPP”)—a Clean Air Act regulation designed to limit carbon emissions from...more
The Supreme Court has ruled the federal Clean Air Act does not grant the Environmental Protection Agency authority to act without Congress when capping plant emissions through measures such as “generation shifting” — i.e....more