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The U.S. Supreme Court today narrowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s options, under the Clean Air Act, for limiting the dangerous carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants, while conceding the EPA’s authority to act. 

Manish Bapna, president of the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), made the following statement: 

“This leaves the EPA in the climate fight but makes it harder to win it. The ruling recognizes the EPA’s authority to limit the carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants, while narrowing the agency’s options for doing so. 

“This aggressive decision announced a broad and dangerous 'major questions' doctrine to overrule an EPA rule that never took effect. 

“Under the Court’s decision, the EPA can still write standards that require these plants to operate more cleanly. The agency can and must set standards to cut carbon pollution from power plants that burn coal or gas. 

“Nearly eight in ten Americans—78 percent—support such limits. It’s time for the EPA to use the full extent of its lawful authority to cut this pollution. 

“As the nation’s environmental guardian, the EPA must use every tool in the kit to protect millions of people in this country and around the world who are suffering from the heatwaves, floods, fires, and storms made worse by climate pollution. The agency should engage immediately with stakeholders and propose new rules, by year’s end, to achieve the greatest possible cuts in carbon pollution from power plants.”