West Virginia v. EPA 

Date: 30 June 2022 

Court: Supreme Court of the United States 

Citation(s): West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, 597 U.S. ___ (2022) 

Short summary  

Conservative states and coal companies challenged potential rulemaking by the Environmental Protection Agency which could phase out electricity generation from coal-fired power plants in the United States. In a landmark ruling, the Supreme Court sided with petitioners, holding that the Clean Air Act does not permit such extensive regulations. As a result, it is now significantly more difficult for the federal government to limit carbon emissions absent new legislation from Congress.  

Summary by: David Cremins

Link to Original Judgement

Click here to open the case in PDF format

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Weight of decision  

This decision is binding on all United States federal and state courts. 

Key facts 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has authority to regulate the emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from certain sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA). See Massachusetts v. EPA. Following Massachusetts, typically only the federal government can be sued for failing to adequately limit (or overly limiting) carbon pollution under the CAA, see City of New York v. Chevron; American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, and then usually only by states, not individuals, see Washington Environmental Council v. Bellon.  

Under § 111 of the CAA, EPA can develop a “best system of emissions reduction” to limit their accumulation in the atmosphere. Historically, this authority has been exercised by, for instance, requiring both new and existing power plants to utilize certain technologies to limit carbon emissions. The implementation of these rules is then carried out by the states. See Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. EPA. With the need to quickly decarbonize to combat the climate crisis, however, the EPA has, under Democratic presidential administrations, sought to curtail carbon emissions more aggressively from the U.S. energy sector, especially from coal-fired power plants.  

Previous instances  

In 2015, under the Obama Administration, the EPA proposed the Clean Power Plan (CPP) rule which, in part, encouraged “generation shifting” from coal-fired to natural gas-fired power plants and renewable energy sources via a system of credits and offsets, as part of a cap-and-trade system. In 2016, the Supreme Court blocked implementation of the CPP rule and, under the Trump Administration, the EPA instead proposed the less ambitious Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, claiming that § 111(d) of the CAA did not allow it to issue industry-wide generation-shifting rules as part of a best system of emissions reduction. Several states sued the EPA for unduly constraining its own authority and the D.C. Circuit agreed, blocking the ACE rule in American Lung Association v. EPA, No. 19-1140 (D.C. Cir. 2021). West Virginia and other states, along with private coal companies, then intervened and brought this case to the Supreme Court, seeking to vacate the D.C. Circuit’s holding and prevent the EPA from ever again promulgating a rule like the CPP. 

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