Any time EPA promulgates a regulation, it goes to court, and you see the kinds of things that can happen. And I said it publicly, other people said it publicly, that it would be far better – EPA would prefer it if Congress acted because then it was the law. And there was a lot of talk going on, not informal bills being put up, but for staff to staff with the Hill to deal with this issue. WHITMAN: Well, we wanted to – we felt that there was a real need to address the issue of climate change. It's that simple.ĬHAKRABARTI: Can you tell us … in more detail about what you just said about when you were EPA administrator? There were already pressures on the EPA, but Congress wouldn't act. And clearly climate change and what is being emitted from these power plants is affecting human health and the environment. So EPA had to start to move forward because its mandate from the Congress is pretty simple: Protect human health and the environment. In fact, there was all kinds of pressure running on back when I was head of the EPA, but Congress wouldn't act. EPA would have far rather have the Congress act on climate change. And what was interesting to me – or ironic, I should say, by the quotes that you played from the attorney general of West Virginia – was that he said, you know, this is bureaucracy running wild. All this seems to be influenced by industry. WHITMAN: Well, you know, I think it's going to take years before we fully appreciate the enormous impact that this ruling is going to have, not just at EPA, but as you’ve mentioned before, across federal agencies: the FDA, how we regulate our food, how we make sure our drugs are safe. Governor Whitman, welcome to On Point.ĬHRISTINE TODD WHITMAN: Thanks for having me, Meghna.ĬHAKRABARTI: So, first of all, tell us – how severely do you think the court's ruling does limit EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions in the country? She's the former governor of New Jersey and served as EPA administrator under President George W. And we'll start today with Christine Todd Whitman. However:ĪRCHIVAL TAPE: What it did was tell us that the Supreme Court is more interested in special interests that are being funded by the fossil fuel industry than they are in protecting public health and giving the agency the right and opportunity and obligation to actually keep our air clean and keep our water clean and to address the existential challenge of our time.ĬHAKRABARTI: Well, today, we'll look at the ruling’s impact on the EPA and beyond – its impact on federal agencies across the board. She said the ruling does not completely hobble the EPA in its efforts to fight climate change. It ensures that these unelected bureaucrats are not going to be seizing power across the board.ĬHAKRABARTI: The next day, White House National Climate Advisor and former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy was on MSNBC. We've been arguing for many, many years – while everyone's been focusing on, the question of climate change, we've said one simple thing: that if you have a major issue of the day, Congress needs to be the decider, not an unelected bureaucracy. And here he was on Fox News the day of the ruling.ĪRCHIVAL TAPE: This is a huge victory for our American system of government. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led the lawsuit against the EPA. power plants, the EPA had gone beyond its congressionally granted authority. Specifically, the court ruled that in crafting rules to reduce carbon emissions from U.S. Last week, in the culmination of an historic and revolutionary Supreme Court term, the court issued a sweeping opinion curtailing the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to issue regulations on climate change. Today, he is a partner at the law firm Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis. He served in the Solicitor General’s Office in the Reagan and George H. ( Wright, former general counsel at the FCC in the Clinton Administration. Bush administration. He’s currently a member of the law firm Epstein Becker & Green. ( DeCamp, former administrator and senior policy advisor at the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour division in the George W. Former senior Justice Department official. ( Graves, executive director of the progressive watchdog group True North Research. Former Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. GuestsĬhristine Todd Whitman, Former Governor of New Jersey. Today, On Point: The Supreme Court limits government, and grows its own power. The ruling could end up limiting the capacities of every single federal agency. In a major case involving the EPA, the Supreme Court agreed and issued a landmark ruling severely limiting the EPA's ability to regulate carbon emissions.Ĭritics believe the Court's ruling reaches far beyond one agency's plans to address climate change. Should judges defer to federal agencies when it comes to how those agencies enact policy? A plume of steam billows from the coal-fired Merrimack Station in Bow, N.H.
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