This week, the Supreme Court issued a great decision for energy development and a big loss for the Biden administration’s green agenda. By a 6-3 vote, the court ruled to limit significantly the federal government’s power to set overreaching climate regulations. The case, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, centered on the EPA’s authority to regulate a significant portion of the U.S. economy under a rarely used section of the Clean Air Act.
The ruling is a massive victory for America’s energy workers, independence, and the nation’s economy. It will severely limit what President Joe Biden’s unelected bureaucrats can do on their own.
In his concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, “The Constitution does not authorize agencies to use pen-and-phone regulations as substitutes for laws passed by the people’s representatives.” That shouldn’t just apply to the EPA.
The trickle-down effects from this ruling will hopefully be felt across the federal government. Since coming to office, the Biden administration has pushed unilateral regulations to force the country off abundant and affordable fossil fuel energy sources. These top-down regulations have been punitive and pervasive. Biden and his army of bureaucratic lackeys have tried to do everything in their power to pull the plug on reliable American energy sources, such as oil, natural gas, and coal.
Few examples of Biden’s bureaucratic overreach have been more blatant than the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. This little-known but very powerful commission is tasked with approving permits for natural gas infrastructure, including pipelines. In February, Richard Glick, chairman of FERC, and the two other Democratic members forced through a rule that would have forced companies seeking pipeline permits to account for greenhouse gas emissions at all phases of natural gas development. This requirement is both unlawful and nearly impossible. This was an attempt to scuttle all new natural gas infrastructure before a shovel ever goes into the ground.
Without pipelines to move natural gas from the Gulf Coast or Appalachia to other regions of the country, the fuel quickly becomes very expensive to ship. FERC had no mandate from Congress to set this rule, but it moved forward on its own anyway. It was a song that was perfectly harmonious with the chorus coming from Biden’s White House.
Fortunately, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) chairs the Senate Committee with oversight of FERC. Manchin has blasted the bureaucratic attempt to kill natural gas projects. Congress never gave FERC the authority to create such a regulation, and Manchin knows it. Glick was forced to hit the pause button on the regulation.
Now, Glick has been renominated by Biden, and his nomination could be considered in the Senate soon. It’s a safe bet that if the Senate confirms Glick, his climate regulation could resurface and be finalized. That’s exactly what Biden and his climate czars, Gina McCarthy and John Kerry, want to see happen, in spite of this Supreme Court ruling.
Glick has been emphatic that he did not take his marching orders from the White House, but his public calendars might tell a different story. According to the Wall Street Journal, Glick regularly met with Ali Zaidi, the White House’s deputy climate czar, every two weeks. It’s hard to imagine that this natural gas policy never came up.
The Senate blocking one nomination and the Supreme Court issuing one landmark ruling won’t stop Biden and his bureaucrats from trying to force punishing climate change regulations on the country. However, they are good reminders that the people’s representatives, not unelected bureaucrats, should be in charge.
Larry Behrens is the communications director for Power The Future. You can find him on Twitter @larrybehrens or email him at [email protected].
