There is no foundation to the argument that in crafting its carbon emissions standards for existing coal-fired power plants, the Environmental Protection Agency stepped outside the bounds of its regulatory authority, according to a policy brief issued Monday by the Institute for Policy Integrity. “The Clean Power Plan rigorously observes the many constraints on EPA’s discretion to craft emission guidelines under Section 111(d) [of the Clean Air Act]. It is not the reckless power grab that opponents describe, but a straightforward application of EPA’s longstanding Clean Air Act authority to regulate dangerous emissions from stationary sources of pollution,” the brief says.
The regulation in question, the Clean Power Plan, is the focus of an enormous legal challenge pitting 27 states and numerous trade organizations, electricity generators, and utilities against the EPA. The Supreme Court in February halted implementation of the rule until after the legal challenge has been resolved. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for Sept. 27 before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
One argument against the rule, which requires states to develop action plans to reach federally set emissions reduction goals, is that the EPA has overstepped its authority by “invading” areas, such as intrastate electricity markets, which are usually managed at the state level.
“It is certainly true that EPA’s regulatory authority over existing power plants is not boundless,” the report says. “Indeed, Section 111 of the Clean Air Act places several important limits on the agency’s discretion to craft emission guidelines for such facilities, such as forbidding the agency from imposing excessive costs, requiring it to consider how its guidelines might affect the nation’s energy supply, and requiring it to base guidelines on reduction techniques that have been ‘adequately demonstrated,’”
The paper addresses each of eight significant constraints of Section 111 of the Clean Air Act on the EPA’s authority to craft emission guidelines, concluding that the agency followed the section to the letter and has not overstepped the bounds of its regulatory authority. “[T]he Plan explicitly acknowledges and respects each of Section 111’s constraints on EPA’s regulatory authority,” the paper says.
