Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) is gathering support in the House for a bill aimed at overturning a recent Supreme Court decision ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is limited in its authority to regulate carbon emissions — a decision that could have devastating consequences for the climate.
Ocasio-Cortez appeared earlier in the month introduced the EPA Regulatory Authority Act of 2022, a bill that’s narrowly craftedto concentrate on amending Clean Air Act which gives the EPA the authorityTo regulate air pollution.
According to E&E News, the congresswoman is shopping around for support for the bill, hoping that it will pass the House even if there’s little chance of it passing the Senate. She saidThe bill has had about a dozen cosponsors to date.
The Senate may reject the bill. Sen. Joe Manchin (D, West Virginia), is a coal millionaire. just killed Congress’s last best chance to pass climate legislation, Ocasio-Cortez says — but its passage in the House would be a strong rebuke against the Supreme Court.
On the last day of the Supreme Court’s term last month, it handed down its decision for West Virginia v. EPA, ruling with plaintiffs who argued that the agency doesn’t have the power to regulate carbon emissions.
It was a case against the Barack Obama-era Clean Power Plan. If it had been implemented, it would have allowed the EPA regulation of power plants in order to limit their impact on the climate crisis. The Clean Power Plan It was never in forceThe Supreme Court however ruled against it. Along with Manchin’s climate obstruction, the decision could put the countryFurther Climate destruction is on the horizon. Without Further mitigation is required to combat the climate crisisMany parts of the Earth could be no longer livablefor human beings within the next decade.
However, it’s unclear if Ocasio-Cortez’s bill even has the votes to pass the House. Jared Huffman (D.California), House Natural Resources Committee Chair, and Kurt Schrader (Oregon), both conservative Democrat representatives, have both thrown their support. cold water on the idea, E&E found. Huffman stated that Congress could change the Clean Air Act. while SchraderWho is it? It was crucial in killing Democrats’ major climate bill last year, said that Congress should focus on other priorities right now.
Ocasio-Cortez recognized the criticisms of her bill, which she said was “a little difficult to understand.”
“I think sometimes there’s this framing of these issues being more complex than they are, but the legislation is quite straightforward,” she said.
If Ocasio-Cortez is able to gather the votes to pass the bill, it would be the fifth bill passed by the House in recent months directly aimed at preempting or combating rulings by the Supreme Court’s far right justices. Last week, two bills were passed by Congress aimed at Access to contraception protectionThe You can have the same sex married. And earlier in the month. the chamber passedLegislation to protect abortion access and the rights of abortion seekers travel across state linesThis is the procedure.
Most of these bills would be almost certain to be defeated in the Senate. The exception is the bill protecting same-sex marriage. Senate Republicans believe that this bill has the support of their caucus to overcome 60-vote filibuster.
