Supreme Court Rules in Favor of West Virginia in West Virginia v. EPA

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of West Virginia in West Virginia v. EPA
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June 30th, 2022 | Jacob Roth

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of states rights in a 6-3 decision on Thursday in West Virginia v EPA. This following the courts previous rulings over the past week ruling to keep power in the states hands.

In 1970 the EPA was given more power to regulate any “new and existing” sources of air pollution when it amended the Clean Air Act.

Then in 2019 the EPA adopted the Affordable Clean Energy Rule to regulate the greenhouse gas emission for power plants.

That Affordable Clean Energy Rule or ACE rule is what several states and communities objected against taking legal action which led to a petition to the Supreme Court.

The lawyers for West Virginia argued that the EPA was given “universal power” to affect the average American life due to how the EPA can determine the “best” system for emission reduction which can create problems for production and that could snowball into control over a large portion of the economy.

The Supreme Court said with this ruling that the EPA has overstepped it jurisdiction. That could have impacts outside of the Energy Sector.

Several politicians had statements on the matter including Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse who said

“Congress writes the laws, not bureaucrats, because nobody in Nebraska votes for the pencil pushers at the EPA or any of the other nameless, faceless federal bureaucracies. Democracy means that the people who write laws have to stand for election. The EPA’s loss is a win for the rule of law, for self-government, and for Nebraska farmers and ranchers.”

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