EPA Extended Legal Victories for Climate Change Moves
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-24/epa-extended-legal-victories-for-climate-change-moves.html
The Obama administration added to a series of environmental court wins, as the Environmental Protection Agency retained the right to curb greenhouse gases from power plants, refineries and chemical factories.
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday upheld the EPAs requirement that such facilities address the emissions as part of permits for expansion. The court said the agency couldnt apply the rule to smaller emitters such as apartment buildings, schools or restaurants. After the decision, facilities responsible for 83 percent of emissions still need a permit.
The practical result is that virtually all large new pollution sources will have to apply modern pollution controls to their carbon pollution, said David Doniger, the top climate lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The most important message from this case is that the Supreme Court stands behind its prior decisions that EPA has the authority and responsibility to address climate change.
The high courts ruling follows its rejection last year of a plea to reconsider its 2007 decision letting the agency regulate greenhouse gases. In April, the court upheld the EPAs rule cutting pollution from power plants tied to soot and smog that crosses state lines. A lower court upheld its far-reaching mercury rule.