Over 20 Republican state attorneys have petitioned the Republican-leaning Supreme Court, demanding the court block the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing new rules that limit planet-warming emissions from power plants, CNN reported.
What's happening?
The new rules from the EPA would make existing coal and new natural gas power plants to either cut or capture 90% of their planet-overheating air pollution by 2032, per the news outlet.
This is apparently unacceptable to the coalition of Republican state attorneys. The change they are calling for would — at least temporarily — allow some businesses operating in their states to be able to pollute the environment and overheat the planet, leading to more droughts, stronger hurricanes, and more extreme weather.
Their filing argued that the rules would be too costly for power plants and might force them to close. It also referred to clean energy and carbon capture as "inadequately demonstrated technologies," per CNN, despite the fact that many of these technologies have existed for many years and have been extensively demonstrated at this point, as the U.S. Department of Energy can attest.
Why are new laws important?
With a few minor exceptions, large for-profit corporations — especially those whose business models rely on dirty energy creation or usage — have shown time and time again that they are not willing to reckon with the environmental harm that their practices cause unless they are legally compelled to do so.
If the Supreme Court rules favorably for the coalition, the filing would represent a big step back in terms of legally compelling polluting companies to stop polluting.
It is worth noting that Republicans are not the only politicians who are willing to cancel pro-environment legislation. New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, recently nixed a years-in-the-making congestion-pricing policy at the last moment, prioritizing car drivers at the expense of New York City's air quality, funding for its public transit system, and potentially over 100,000 jobs.
What's being done about this?
We all have our own parts to play in curbing the damage that continues to be done to our planet, from making planet-friendly purchases to ditching single-use plastics to planting native plants for pollinators in our gardens.
The decisions of elected officials, however, have a much more outsized impact. If your elected official caters to business interests or wealthy donors over what's good for our planet, environment, and the quality of the air we breathe, you can vote them out of office at the next opportunity.
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