The An American law used to control air pollution in the country was enacted in 1970, when the environmental movement was born, and is the primary law that establishes EPA’s responsibility to protect and regulate air quality. It was greatly expanded in 1990 to limit other major environmental threats such as acid rain and urban smog.
The Act identifies greenhouse gases in some parts, but does not explicitly direct the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide. Instead, it asks the agency to regulate pollutants that are “dangerous to human health” more broadly. In 2007, the Supreme Court, in Massachusetts vs. EPA, No. 05-1120, order the agency to determine if carbon dioxide fits that description. In 2009, EPA concluded that it did.
That conclusion means that carbon dioxide can be legally defined as a pollutant and is regulated. The Obama and Biden administrations used that finding to justify regulations for gasoline-powered vehicles and coal and gas-fired power plants, and several Supreme Court cases have since retain that authority.
However, since Congress has never directly addressed the issue before, challenges persist. In West Virginia vs. EPA, No. 20-1530, landmark ruling this year, the Supreme Court’s conservative justices made clear that if lawmakers really want the government to move away from fossil fuels, they should say so.
“One assumption in the ruling is that Congress did not explicitly state that the EPA is responsible for addressing climate pollution from the power sector,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. “Well, it’s very clear now,” she said.
Some experts downplayed the effect of the terms. Jeff Holmstead, an energy attorney who served on the EPA during both Bush administrations, said there was a near-zero chance that legal efforts by some conservative groups to eliminate the possibility of pollution regulation The government’s climate will prevail.
