US Supreme Court votes to limit EPA’s powers

Ruling constrains regulator’s authority to mandate power generators switch away from fossil fuels

The US Supreme Court has ruled to limit the powers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In a 6-3 decision, the court opted to support a case brought by West Virginia, and backed by 18 other US states, which claimed that a broader conception of the EPA’s powers enacted under the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan was unlawful. “The only interpretive question before us… is… whether the ‘best system of emission reduction’ identified by EPA in the Clean Power Plan was within the authority granted to the agency in Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. For the reasons given, the answer is no,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in his opinion