WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Bush administration’s policy of inaction on global warming and ruled that greenhouse gases are air pollutants subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.
The court, in a 5-4 ruling in its first case on climate change takes the first step toward national limits on emissions from cars, trucks and power plants, and could lead to more fuel-efficient cars as early as next year.
Until now, the administration has maintained that the Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority to set emissions rules because greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which trap heat at the Earth’s surface, are not covered by air-pollution laws.
Washington and 11 other states challenged the Bush administration in court for its failure to regulate greenhouses gases under the Clean Air Act. That 1970s measure says the EPA must regulate “any air pollutant” that is likely to endanger “public health or welfare.” The law defines public welfare to include effects on the climate or weather.
“A reduction in domestic emissions would slow the pace of global emissions increases, no matter what happens elsewhere,” Justice John Paul Stevens said in the majority opinion. “EPA has offered no reasoned explanation for its refusal to decide whether greenhouse gases cause or contribute to climate change.”
The high court specifically rejected the Bush administration’s “laundry list of reasons not to regulate.” They include the assertion that the new U.S. auto regulations “might impair the president’s ability’s to negotiate with ‘key developing nations’ to reduce emissions.”
“While the president had broad authority in foreign affairs, that authority does not extend to the refusal to execute domestic laws,” Stevens wrote.
His opinion was joined by Justices Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer.
Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. dissented, saying the court should have left the issue of global warming to be resolved by Congress and the president, and states had no standing to sue the EPA. Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Jr. agreed with him.
In the short term, the decision boosts Washington and 11 other states’ prospects for gaining EPA approval of their own program to limit tailpipe emissions, beginning with the 2009 model year. Those cars begin appearing in showrooms next year. Emission limits would become stricter each year until 2016.
Automobile makers have said stricter emission limits would be accomplished by increasing fuel-economy standards.
Reacting to the court ruling, the automakers called for an economy-wide approach to global warming, cautioning that no single industry could bear the burden alone.
Monday’s ruling also improved the odds that Congress would take action on comprehensive legislation to reduce global warming, said business groups, environmental advocates and lawmakers.
Relatedly, the court on Monday also ruled that Duke Energy Corp. abide by a federal clean air program and install pollution control equipment on its aging coal-fired power plants.
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