Supreme Court accepts GHG emissions case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review appeals against the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources such as power plants.

In 2007 the court ruled in favor of the agency in an appeal case challenging the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from car engines. And, having declared carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to be pollutants under the terms of the Clean Air Act, the agency is now introducing regulation of these gases for stationary sources. But, since the allowed emissions limits for more traditional pollutants are quite low, thus potentially creating a minefield of complex and impractical permitting requirements for small business operators, the agency has also introduced a rule setting relatively high emissions thresholds for greenhouse gases. These high thresholds result in the regulations only applying to large industrial facilities such as power stations.

Several states and industry groups have appealed the agency’s regulation, saying that there is inadequate evidence supporting the dangers of greenhouses gases and that the agency does not have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources.

According to a report in the New York Times, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the appeals last year. The Supreme Court has now accepted six of the appeals, but has limited its review to the question of whether the regulation of greenhouse gases from motor vehicles has triggered the need for similar regulations for stationary sources, the New York Times said.

—Alan Bailey