Supreme Court Hears Case on EPA’s Efforts to Address Climate Pollution

NEWS RELEASE

Contact:
Vickie Patton, 720-837-6239, vpatton@edf.org
Sharyn Stein, 202-572-3396, sstein@edf.org 

 “The Supreme Court, today, heard oral arguments in a case that affects one of the most important issues facing our country – the imperative to address climate-destabilizing pollution.”

“The big news was that the biggest emitters in our nation recognized – clearly — before the highest Court in our land that EPA has manifest authority to address climate pollution from power plants and industrial sources.”   

“Peter Keisler, who argued today for the industrial petitioners, stated as follows in response to questioning from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

‘I think most critically, Your Honor, it includes the new source performance standards program of Section 111 that this Court discussed in Connecticut v. AEP. And this is a very important point, because this case is not about whether EPA can regulate greenhouse gases from stationary sources. This Court held that it could under this program in Section 11 [sic].’

(see Supreme Court transcript page 22)

“While we wait for another day to hear more from the Court about the single question presented today and the full dimensions of EPA’s legal authority, there is no question that EPA has ample authority to protect our families and communities from the carbon pollution discharged by power plants and other large industrial sources.”

-       Vickie Patton, Environmental Defense Fund General Counsel  

Environmental Defense Fund is a party to the case before the Supreme Court and participated in the presentation of oral arguments when the case was before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit