Last month's decision by the Supreme Court striking down the Clean Power Plan is a blow to the fight against climate change, but it’s not a total knockout. Other existing laws protecting the environment are untouched by the decision in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency. The broad powers of state and local governments to set stringent environmental standards are similarly unaffected.
In 2007 the Supreme Court declared in a landmark decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, that the Clean Air Act empowers the agency to regulate greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide. Some of us had feared that the court would reverse itself on this (as it just did with Roe v. Wade), but that didn’t happen. Worst case averted.
The largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S. today is motor vehicles. The EPA and the Department of Transportation are moving forward with requiring cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. The state of California is further driving technological advances with the vehicles it purchases or controls, and most automobile manufacturers are transitioning to electric vehicles. Today’s EV drivers are especially happy not to be paying high gasoline prices; electricity is only a fraction of the cost per mile.
