Free Republic

Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark decision in West Virginia vs. EPA, ruling that the Clean Air Act did not specifically authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Now, any greenhouse gas regulations would need specific authorization from Congress. At issue was the Clean Power Plan (CPP), an EPA regulation promulgated by the Obama administration which mandated that existing coal and natural gas power plants reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. There were many problems with this regulation, some of them were legal, and some of them were practical. Legally Speaking.. The...

For more than 100 years, coal-fired boilers at the Municipal Power Plant have helped power the city's electric needs. At 5:30 p.m. Sept. 22, the last day of summer, the Municipal Power Plant burned its last load of coal. The city-owned plant's two coal-fired boilers join a growing number of small, aging coal-fired units across the country that have gone cold in the face of tighter environmental regulations on emissions. A third boiler will continue to burn natural gas. To meet both regulations, Johanningmeier said, the plant would have had to refit the boilers with emissions-reducing equipment costing tens of...

When justices ruled to strike down laws limiting corporate political spending, they signaled a tough road ahead for Democrats' regulatory measures. Reporting from Washington - Five years ago, when John G. Roberts Jr. became the Supreme Court's chief justice, he described the job as though he would be a minor functionary, more like an umpire behind the plate than the star of the game. He also said he favored minimal and narrow decisions, rather than broad but divisive rulings that would abruptly change the law. But in recent weeks, Roberts has shown that when he has the support of moderate...