The High Court endorses the implementation of Biden's methane and mercury regulations by the EPA, marking an uncommon success.
The rulings fail to maintain the methane and mercury regulations but instead allow the administration to implement them while legal challenges persist – a procedure that might extend for years.
On a separate note, the court is evaluating a batch of urgent appeals, demanding coal and new natural gas power plants to drastically reduce emissions.
Twenty-four Republican states requested the Supreme Court to obstruct the methane regulation, asserting that the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its boundaries in approving it.
The agency anticipates the rule will decrease methane emissions from oil and gas operations by approximately 80% up until 2038.
Initially, an appeals court in Washington, D.C., declined the states' request to temporarily halt the new methane regulations.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas and a byproduct of fossil fuel extraction, acts as a potent contributor to environmental pollution with over 80 times the warming impact of carbon dioxide during its initial two decades in the atmosphere.
The mercury rule, which came into effect in July, penalizes specific coal-fired plants for reducing mercury emissions while also enhancing emission standards for other metals, such as arsenic and chromium. Twenty-three Republican states, including North Dakota, West Virginia, and Alaska, in conjunction with numerous industry groups, filed a lawsuit to thwart the rule.
In their petition to the Supreme Court, the states expressed doubt that the agency could "quantify any relevant or significant public health or environmental benefit arising from the required reduction." Industry groups voiced concerns that the expenses to renovate plants would be "significant" and predicted that electrical prices would escalate.
The ongoing legal challenges in politics surrounding the methane and mercury regulations have led to a delay in their full implementation. The new regulations, if upheld, could significantly reduce methane emissions, which act as a potent contributor to environmental pollution.
