While you, our loyal readers, have read through this blog you may have thought to yourself: “Creeling puts up a lot of interesting stuff regarding economics, but raftercm doesn’t really talk about the law that much. He seems to just put up random articles about stuff he feels like talking about. What a shitty blogger.” Today is the day I redeem myself in your eyes. Instead of just bitching about some environmental group filing a lawsuit, I can tell you about the outcome of a case where an environmental group sued someone.
You are not ready for this, but if you think you are, read on.
Today, in an 8-0 decision[1], the Supreme Court sided with the Obama Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority when it said that the environmental groups could not sue utilities like the TVA claiming they were a nuisance under the federal law. The environmental groups had sued the TVA and other utility companies, claiming that the greenhouse gas emissions from the utilities were a nuisance. The Supreme Court said that Congress had meant to give the ability to regulate greenhouse gasses solely to the EPA, and that if the groups wanted to sue the EPA they could, but they had no claim against the utilities themselves.
I support this decision partly because it helps hold the EPA accountable for the rules it makes regarding greenhouse emissions. If more decisions came out like this and these administrations were held accountable for the decisions they make, it would keep private businesses from being burdened by groups who just seem to enjoy filing lawsuits.
[1] “But the Supreme Court has 9 members!” I know that. Justice Sotomayor recused herself from the case. Stop being nit-picky and keep reading.
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