McMorris Rodgers, Capito lead lawmakers in filing Supreme Court brief denouncing EPA action

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) acted outside its congressionally authorized authority by issuing overreaching rules that attempt to transform the nation’s power sector through emissions regulations under the Clean Air Act, according to an amicus curiae brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and a bicameral group of Republican lawmakers.

“If Congress had intended to give the EPA such sweeping authority to transform an entire sector of our economy, Congress would have done so explicitly,” according to the brief filed with the High Court on Monday. “An administrative agency like the EPA may decide issues of such vast economic and political significance only when the agency can point to ‘clear congressional authorization.’”

Sen. Capito, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Rep. McMorris Rodgers, ranking member of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, led 47 senators and 44 House members in support of the petitioners in the pending case West Virginia, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency.

In this case, the Court must consider the appropriate scope of Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, which the EPA “attempted to morph into a broad grant of authority for the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector,” their brief states. 

Relying on an exceptionally broad interpretation of Section 111(d), the members wrote that the EPA issued a rule seeking to set emission guidelines for power plants as part of the agency’s Clean Power Plan, which the Supreme Court “rightfully stayed” before the rule could go into effect. 

The lawmakers said in their brief that Congress is the constitutionally appropriate forum for addressing major policy questions concerning greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power sector.

“Decisions regarding greenhouse gas emissions and the power sector are major policy questions with vast economic and political significance,” according to the brief. “Only elected members of Congress, representing the will of the people, may decide these questions. The EPA’s attempt to issue expansive regulations cannot stand in the absence of clear congressional authorization.”

The lawmakers also pointed out that “Congress knows how to address greenhouse gas emissions,” and in recent years has approved laws that incentivize reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from a wide range of industries, including the electric power sector, the brief states. 

In conclusion, the lawmakers stated that when Congress decides to address greenhouse gas emissions in an entire sector of the national economy, it does so with explicit and specific legislative text. “This Court should not permit agencies to ‘discover’ expansive regulatory authorities where none exist,” according to the brief. 

Senate cosigners include U.S. Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Thune (R-SD), Richard Burr (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Tim Scott (R-SC), John Hoeven (R-ND), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Steve Daines (R-MT), Todd Young (R-IN), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

House cosigners include U.S. Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Michael Burgess (R-TX), Bob Latta (R-OH), Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), Bill Johnson (R-OH), Billy Long (R-MO), Larry Bucshon (R-IN), Buddy Carter (R-GA), John Curtis (R-UT), John Joyce (R-PA), Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), Troy Balderson (R-OH), Tom Emmer (R-MN), Garret Graves (R-LA), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), and Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA).