Climate Politics/Capitol Light (14)

                  Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                   July 8, 2019                                                                    Issue 14
 
The House and Senate are back in session this week after taking time off for Independence Day.

The clock starts ticking. The Environmental Protection Agency's final rule replacing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan was published this morning, kicking off a 60-day window to bring lawsuits over the regulation - something multiple state attorneys general have said they will do. The Trump EPA seeks to justify its interpretation of the Clean Air Act as the only legal interpretation - a harder argument to win in court but one that, if successful, could prevent future administrations from implementing stricter regulations on power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. (Daily Journal Federal Register)

• Legal challenges to the Affordable Clean Energy Plan, Trump’s answer to the Clean Power Plan are some of the few things that can be counted on these days.
• As important as the outcome of the challenges is, what judges and justices have to say about the legality of EPA regulating power plant emissions both inside and outside the fence line is perhaps more important.
• It’s possible the courts could maintain the precedence of the landmark Massachusetts v EPA case in which the High Court said EPA would be obligated to regulate greenhouse gas emissions if it found them harmful to health, while at the same time ruling that the Clean Air Act doesn’t permit the Agency to regulate beyond the fence line.

The public is entitled. Senators, including Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), are considering writing legislation to make federal records more accessible in response to the EPA and Interior Department's recent changes to their Freedom of Information Act policies. Environmental groups oppose the agencies' policy changes, which give the agencies more control over the fulfillment of records requests. (The Hill)

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