A few interesting notes about this week’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Mass. vs. EPA case: It is another strong indicator of how politicized the debate over global warming in general and greenhouse gas reduction specifically has become. The ruling was 5-4, and two of the four dissenters are Bush appointees (John Roberts and Samuel Alito). The other two (Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia,) are certainly not ever going to be confused with a liberal. No wonder most major newspapers categorized the landmark ruling as a huge defeat for the Bush Administration.
The importance of the ruling is not just that it clears the way for EPA to ramp of vehicle efficiency standards and force manufacturers to build automobiles that emit less, but the precedent the ruling sets will spill over into other areas of greenhouse gas regulation as well — like buildings.
You may have heard of California’s relatively new law – AB 32: The California Global Warming Solutions Act. The law forces California organizations to reduce emissions by 25 percent to 1990 levels by 2020. The California Air Resources Board (CARB), the entity charged with administering and regulating the law, have waited with bated breath to see how the U.S. Supreme Court would treat the Mass. vs. EPA case. Officials at CARB say they expect to be sued by organizations that would claim it didn’t have the legal authority to regulate greenhouse gases – sort of the opposite of the way the Mass. vs. EPA ruling worked. There, the lawsuit was to force EPA to admit that it DID have the authority to limit greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act.
So the ruling is a major victory for environmentalists. Not only does it provide precedent, it paves the way for other greenhouse gas reduction as well regulations as well – which is another reason it’s a major defeat for Bush, who is opposed to regulation. With a Democratic majority in Congress, it’ll be interesting to see how quickly any piece of federal legislation moves. Or will Democrats just wait out Bush and hope a climate-friendly president is elected in 2008?