Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the West Virginia v. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) case undermining the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases established in 2007. This comes as a blow to the EPA’s well-established powers under the Clean Air Act.
“While a significant national setback for climate, this decision does not affect Minnesota’s ability to achieve its carbon goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and retire coal plants,” said J. Drake Hamilton, senior director of science policy at Fresh Energy. “Minnesota has made significant progress on clean energy policy over the past 20 years without relying on federal greenhouse gas requirements. Today’s ruling is further affirmation of the importance of this state-specific work and the investment Minnesota has made in our clean energy future.”
Fresh Energy and our partners remain as committed as ever to getting the job done and for three decades Fresh Energy has been moving the needle on energy and climate policy in Minnesota, speeding the state’s transition to a clean energy economy. Learn more about the work of our clean electricity team here.