“On June 30, the Supreme Court ruled by a 6–3 majority in West Virginia v. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot compel utilities to switch from coal power plants to renewables, as proposed by the agency’s Clean Power Plan. Hyperbolic headlines portrayed a devastating blow to climate action, but these messages missed the nuance and limitations of the ruling. This decision targeted a policy that never went into place. (The EPA replaced the plan in 2019 with less stringent requirements.) It does not limit the EPA’s authority to regulate carbon emissions at individual plants, nor does it affect state and local government policies or targets for renewable energy—as long as those policies are not tied to the federal authority granted to the EPA.”

Click here to read the article.