With the numbers 6–3, the court decided that the country’s environmental law Clean Air Act does not give the EPA the power to regulate emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.
The decision could put a stop to President Joe Biden’s plans to halve the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade and to create an emissions-free energy sector by 2035. Power plants account for about 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.
Biden says in a statement that the verdict is “another devastating decision whose goal is to turn back the clock in the country”. He also says that the decision risks damaging the country’s opportunities to keep the air clean and fight climate change.
“I will not give up using my legal mandate to protect public health and address the climate crisis,” he said in the statement.
Power plant companies, coal producers and 19 mainly republican-controlled states have pursued the case in the Supreme Court. They have in turn received support from several tech companies, including Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Tesla.