Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings released the following statement criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency that struck down further regulate power plant emissions.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling is the latest in a dangerous, disgraceful pattern of decisions that risk the health of our neighbors, of our state, and now the very fate of our planet. The court’s ruling is a boon to the fossil fuel industry when it is already reaping record profits; for the rest of us, it is a gut punch when we are already far behind in the race to avoid catastrophe,” Jennings stated. “Sound environmental policy is not optional for Delaware. The stakes are unique here: our state, which has the lowest mean elevation in the country, is caught between an encroaching sea to our east, air pollution from coal-burning states to our west, and a legacy of industrial pollution beneath our feet. Despite this ruling, we will continue to fight for sane environmental policy in state and federal court — and we will support the efforts of state and federal leaders to demonstrate the responsibility that the court has abandoned.”
In the statement, Jennings was referring from “downwind pollution” from states including Pennsylvania and West Virginia that make their way into Delaware.
Axios reported the 6-3 decision ruled that the clean power regulations dating from the Obama Administration exceeded the authority authorized by Congress.
However, the justices stopped short of barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases, a move that could have happened with the high court moving to the right in recent landmark decisions.
The Biden Administration also has the authority to issue executive orders regulating emissions.
