What SCOTUS Ruling On Emissions Means For Black Warrior River

TUSCALOOSA, AL — In yet another landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court this week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency was gutted of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, which has environmental advocates concerned about the potential impacts to Alabama's air quality and waterways.

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As CBS News reported, the nation's high court ruled 6-3 in favor of a new interpretation of the federal Clean Air Act, ultimately ruling that Congress did not grant the EPA the authority to place regulatory caps on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

This comes after a push from Republican-dominated states, big manufacturing and the coal industry to roll back regulations on emissions, resulting in the decision by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court on Thursday.

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Locally, officials like Alabama Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh took to Twitter to celebrate the decision as a "huge win for American families and our energy freedom."

The Alabama PSC is tasked with regulatory oversight for utility providers in Alabama, the largest among them being Southern Co. and its subsidiary Alabama Power. It's also no secret that the likes of Alabama Power, along with big players in the coal industry and other related industrial interests, actively lobby the Public Service Commission for its favor and, as a result, face little in the way of opposition at the state level.

It's also worth noting Cavanaugh and other Republicans on the PSC over the last decade have been in Alabama Power's corner when it comes to calls for transparency from citizens with respect to how the utility sets its rates. At numerous turns, efforts have fallen short to force the company to open its books under oath during public rate hearings.

Cavanaugh has been arguably the most vocal proponent in recent years for cutting regulations for the utility and on Thursday stood by her longstanding position of vilifying past environmental policies implemented by Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C.

"Obama and Biden have exercised tyrannical measures to force their climate socialist agenda on our country," she wrote. "The EPA has been a puppet for liberal lobbyists and lawyers for too long. They have finally been put in check."

Conversely, those with the noble task of maintaining and protecting Alabama's waterways are fearful of the inevitable environmental impacts on the Black Warrior River following the decision.

In places like the Locust Fork of the river in west Jefferson County, for example, Alabama Power's James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant — known locally as Plant Miller — has been recently cited as the single-largest emitter of greenhouse gasses in the United States.

“Plant Miller continuously pollutes our local water and air while it simultaneously exacerbates global climate change," Black Warrior Riverkeeper Executive Director Charles Scribner told Patch on Thursday. "For example, coal-burning power plants are a major source of mercury emissions which have triggered fish consumption warnings in many of Alabama’s outstanding waterways.”

Left unchecked and without proper regulatory oversight, Scribner and others worry that the ensuing pollution could be catastrophic.

Riverkeeper Nelson Brooke, who heads up efforts on the Black Warrior River, has had a front row seat to the frequent environmental issues involving coal waste along the river for years and lamented the new reality.

"Restricting action on carbon dioxide air emissions for the sake of our climate equals restricting action on curbing harmful air pollution," Brooke told Patch on Thursday. "Industries utilizing fossil fuels such as coal emit a litany of toxic pollutants that are harmful to our health, environment, and wildlife. Instead of doing everything we can to benefit current and future generations, this is a shameful setback.”

Indeed, the Environmental Integrity Project reported in 2020 that the coal-burning Plant Miller produced nearly 19 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions — the equivalent to more than half of the electricity generated by all of the power plants in California.

At the same time, to Scribner's point, thousands enjoy the Black Warrior River each year for everything from fishing, leisure and recreational water sports to collegiate rowing matches, which has riverkeepers across the state on alert for what the future might bring.

When looking at the most recent Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) Program report published in May by the Environmental Protection Agency, these worries are brought into sharper focuses once learning that approximately 14.5 million pounds of production-related waste is produced each year Tuscaloosa County.

While coal-fired power plants and the coal industry itself have been cited as some of the biggest contributors to water and air pollution in Alabama, it's important to note that Nucor Steel — with its massive manufacturing facility on the banks of the Black Warrior River — produces approximately a seventh of all production-related waste in Tuscaloosa County by itself.

With its smokestacks billowing emissions against the Tuscaloosa County skyline around the clock, Nucor dwarfs the emissions produced by the next four companies on the list combined: Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Phifer Inc., Hunt Refining Co. and B.F. Goodrich.

Still, industrial concerns extend far past Nucor Steel and Plant Miller.

As Patch previously reported, Black Warrior Riverkeeper in June threatened litigation in federal court against Warrior Met Coal and another firm, claiming a flagrant violation of the Clean Water Act in Tuscaloosa County. After independent analysis pointed to coal waste in west Alabama creeks, the environmental advocates began demanding the companies repair a slurry impoundment that has allegedly released unregulated discharges of pollutants into tributaries that then feed into the Black Warrior River.

Indeed, the problems on the minds of those looking after Alabama's waterways are many and complex. But from a legal standpoint, Eva Dillard — staff attorney at Black Warrior Riverkeeper — summed it up in simple terms: Thursday's decision by the Supreme Court represented a win for the coal lobby and a loss for the rest of Alabama.

When looking at the bigger picture, she also cautioned of the unrealized side-effects of the decision with respect to the authority of federal institutions.

“The Court did more than arbitrarily limit EPA’s power to address climate pollution from power plants," she said. "In broader terms, the Court has signaled a hostility to the traditional role played by federal agencies, who have the necessary expertise to make these critical decisions to protect the public interest.”

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