RI's Environmental Director Blasts SCOTUS' West Virginia v. EPA Ruling

RHODE ISLAND — Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Terry Graycriticised the latest Supreme Court decision on the issue of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, a news release from DEM said.

The Supreme Court's six conservative justices ruled Thursday in the case of West Virginia v. EPA that the Environmental Protection Agency does not have broad power to protect the environment by instituting regulations which – in this instance – would have reduced greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and set individual goals for states to cut power plant emissions by 2030.

"The U.S. government has the duty and moral obligation to cut climate pollution, but by siding with the coal industry and its allies and blocking the EPA from setting effective power plant emissions standards, the Supreme Court has dealt a major blow to the federal government’s authority and ability to cut this pollution," Gray said in a statement. "The EPA is DEM’s strongest partner on a host of environmental protection laws and programs, including clean air. The Clean Air Act is an extremely good investment, saving as many as 230,000 lives and delivering more than $30 in benefits for every $1 in cost. There is little question that the court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA will harm Americans’ health."

Gray said power plants are the nation's largest source of deadly air pollution, contributing to tens of thousand of deaths and hundreds of thousands of illnesses every year. He also said the health impacts of power plants disproportionately affect communities of color.

"Even when factors like region and income level are considered, communities of color breathe more air pollution than white people," Gray said.

"Today’s damaging decision will have little impact on DEM’s ability to regulate power plant sources in Rhode Island," Gray added. "Even this, however, must be tempered by the fact that pollution from upwind states that continue to burn fossil fuels will travel in the atmosphere and ultimately arrive in Rhode Island, affecting our air quality."