WashingtonOn Friday, the Supreme Court sided with the oil and gas industry in opposing California’s push for electric vehicles, joining President Trump and legislative Republicans in doing so.
Fuel manufacturers had the right to sue over California’s stringent pollution regulations, the judges decided in a 7-2 ruling, reviving the industry’s challenge.
The lawsuit claimed that by exploiting the 1970s-era smog-fighting rule to address climate change in the twenty-first century, California and the Environmental Protection Agency under President Biden were misusing their authority.
According to Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, who used italics to represent the industry’s stance, California’s new emissions rules were intended to address global climate change rather than local air quality issues, as required under the Clean Air Act.
He stated that the fuel manufacturers had standing to sue because the state’s rule would harm them, even if the court did not rule on the claim itself.
gasoline sales provide revenue for the gasoline manufacturers. Thus, their bottom line is negatively impacted by the decline in gasoline and other liquid fuel purchases brought on by the California laws, according to Kavanaugh.
Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor were the only justices to differ.
Jackson asked why the court would bring up a lawsuit against the petroleum industry that everyone knows will soon be moot (and is now mostly moot). This decision supports the regrettable belief that wealthy interests have an easier time getting relief from this court than regular people.
However, Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ subsequent actions overshadowed the outcome.
With Trump’s support, the House and Senate passed legislation rejecting Biden administration rules that would have given California the authority to impose extensive new rules requiring zero-emission vehicles.
According to Trump, the new regulations were intended to unseat California as the country’s front-runner in the fight against greenhouse gasses and air pollution.
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The oil industry may file a lawsuit to overturn California’s proposal to mandate zero emissions for new cars by 2035, according to the Supreme Court.
“The disapproval measures will prevent California’s attempt to impose a nationwide electric vehicle mandate and to regulate national fuel economy by regulating carbon emissions,” he said during a bill-signing ceremony at the White House.
He added that one state’s special status under our Constitution does not permit it to set rules that restrict consumer choice and force an electric vehicle mandate on the whole country.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta responded that the battle for clean air is still ongoing. We will continue to fiercely defend California’s jurisdiction under the Clean Air Act, even though we are sorry that the Supreme Court allowed this lawsuit to proceed in the lower court.
According to some environmentalists, the ruling authorizes more litigation by polluters and industry.
David Pettit, a lawyer at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said that this is a risky precedent from a court that is determined to uphold corporate interests. More lawsuits by the oil industry against governments’ capacity to safeguard their citizens and wildlife from climate change are now possible as a result of this ruling.
This report was written by Tony Briscoe, a Times staff writer in Los Angeles.
