SEEC Leadership decries SCOTUS ruling in West Virginia v. EPA
Washington D.C. – The leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC), including Co-Chairs Reps. Gerry Connolly, Doris Matsui, and Paul Tonko and Vice-Chairs Reps. Matt Cartwright, Alan Lowenthal, A. Donald McEachin, Chellie Pingree, and Mike Quigley, released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court released its opinion in West Virginia v. EPA.
"Despite the signs and consequences of the climate crisis growing starker every day, the Supreme Court decided today to make it even harder for the U.S. to protect the planet and ourselves. As Justice Kagan put it succinctly at the start of her dissent, ‘Today, the Court strips the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the power Congress gave it to respond to "the most pressing environmental challenge of our time."' At a moment when science tells us we absolutely must make forward progress, the Court drags us back.
"The ruling further continues this Court's radical project to overturn precedent upon precedent and remake the country in their radical image. In West Virginia v. EPA, it chose to appoint itself the arbiter of U.S. climate policy, rather than Congress or the expert agency Congress delegated that authority to. In this, the Court declares that it knows Congress's intent better than Congress does itself.
"This decision takes off the table one of the EPA's most effective, efficient, and affordable tools to decrease our power sector's emissions. Even more concerning is that the Court has opened the door for further striking down of regulatory actions based on the precedent established today. After today, no climate regulation is safe from this radical Court.
"What is clear is that Congress must take immediate action to enact clean energy investments through a reconciliation package if we're going to have any chance to stop the worst consequences of the climate crisis. That's why we recently led a letter signed by 175 House Democrats urging President Biden to do everything in his power to reach a deal and sign into law as swiftly as possible a revised reconciliation package that includes the climate investments passed by the U.S. House of Representatives."