24 June 2014 - Supreme Court supports Obama on carbon emissions
Top court mostly upholds Obama bid to curb carbon emissions
Lawrence Hurley (The Chicago Tribune)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday largely upheld the Obama administration's authority to curb greenhouse gases from major emitters like power plants and refineries in a ruling that nonetheless exempted some smaller sources from the regulation.
On a 7-2 vote, the court rejected an industry-backed argument that most emitting facilities should not be regulated for greenhouse gases under one particular air pollution program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
But industry could claim a partial win because the court ruled on a 5-4 vote that some facilities the government had wanted to regulate will be exempted. Some landfills, pulp and paper facilities, electronics manufacturing plants, chemical production plants and beverage producers are among the small industrial sources likely to be exempted, an EPA spokesman said.
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More of the same
Adam Liptak (The New York Times)
WASHINGTON — In a big win for environmentalists, the Supreme Court on Monday effectively endorsed the Obama administration’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from sources like power plants, even as it criticized what it called the administration’s overreaching.
The decision is one in a recent string of rulings upholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to issue Clean Air Act regulations to curb climate change, and the agency celebrated the decision.
But the combative tone of Monday’s ruling, along with its rejection of one of the agency’s principal rationales for the regulations under review, suggests that the road ahead may be rocky for other initiatives meant to reduce carbon emissions.
The decision, said Richard J. Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard, “gave the agency a tongue-lashing and suggested the potential for some significant limitations on how the agency chooses to exercise its authority in the future.”
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Context
Suzanne Goldenberg (The Guardian)
Barack Obama took personal charge of the campaign for historic new climate change regulations on Monday, defending a 30% cut in carbon pollution from power plants from a backlash by business lobbies, conservative groups and Democrats in oil and coal states.
The new rules, unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency, would cut carbon pollution from power plants 30% from 2005 levels by 2030.
They represent the first time Obama, or any other US president, has moved to regulate carbon pollution from power plants – the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions – and supporters said they could help put America on a path to a clean energy economy and unlock a global deal to end climate change.
But they also set in motion an epic battle for the mid-term elections. A Washington Post-ABC news opinion poll on Monday found 70% of Americans supporting regulation of power plants.
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India
Staff (The New Indian Express)
Making the stand of the NDA Government clear on climate change, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said India is committed to reduce carbon emission but it may increase in the process of development and poverty eradication.
Underlining that the problem of global warming was created by the developing nations, Javadekar said that India has “a right to grow” and “unless we tackle poverty, we cannot really address the climate change.”
“We have to reduce our carbon emissions. But I have not created the carbon emisssion problems, which have been done by others. But I am not into any blame game. The issue is that I have a right to grow. India and developing countries have the right to grow. These are the emerging economies. To that end, we need to grow. Our net emission may increase,” he said while speaking at a function here.
His statement may raise a few eyebrows as developed nations want India and China to cut down their carbon emissions.
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"24 June 2014 - Supreme Court supports Obama on carbon emissions", La Clé des Langues [en ligne], Lyon, ENS de LYON/DGESCO (ISSN 2107-7029), juin 2014. Consulté le 12/10/2024. URL: https://cle.ens-lyon.fr/anglais/key-story/archives-revue-de-presse-2014/24-june-2014-supreme-court-supports-obama-on-carbon-emissions