Congress should tackle carbon emission regulation – EPA chief

Steven McGinn

09-Mar-2017

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt questioned on Thursday whether it has the authority to regulate carbon emissions, adding that Congress should take the lead to draft such regulations.

The former Oklahoma attorney general said the EPA under his direction would challenge the notion that sound environmental policy and economic growth are separate goals. He also questioned the legality of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP).

Pruitt made his comments during the energy conference, CERAWeek by IHS Markit.

The CPP, which was introduced under President Barack Obama, would reduce power sector emissions by 32% from 2005 levels by 2030. The plan, however, has been marred in litigation after more than two dozen states questioned whether the EPA had the authority to regulate emissions.

At CERAWeek, Pruitt continued to question whether the EPA ever had that authority.

“Are the tools in the toolbox of the EPA [and] has EPA been given tools by Congress to deal with carbon dioxide?” Pruitt said. “[The Supreme Court stay] illustrates an agency that has taken a statute and reimagined it in such a way that transforms beyond what Congress intended.”

He said the Supreme Court does not stay laws unless “they are probably illegal”.

The Supreme Court halted the programme in February 2016. The stay, which temporarily halts the programme, remains in place until the Supreme Court rules on the case or denies a petition to hear it.

The case is currently waiting for a ruling from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Any decision is expected to be challenged in the Supreme Court. However, President Donald Trump and Congress could shift the direction of the programme before that happens.

Pruitt said the CPP is prime example of the previous administration’s overreach of the federal government. While expressing displeasure with the CPP, Pruitt stopped short of saying how the EPA may proceed.

President Donald Trump and Congress is widely expected to revise, amended or repeal, but those plans have not been outlined. Some legal experts have said the Trump administration may be forced to revise the rule rather than repeal it because of previous court rulings.

A 2007 court ruling found the Clean Air Act does give the EPA the authority to regulate carbon emissions if it determines an endangerment from that pollutant. Following that decision, the EPA did determine that carbon emission posed a danger to the public.

Lawyers said that the endangerment finding would place some restrictions on the Trump administration, and it would likely force the EPA to take some action.

CERAWeek runs through Friday.

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