Tuesday October 8, 2024
E & E News —
The Supreme Court has its sights set on another bedrock environmental law, following recent efforts to take on Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act protections.
Justices reconvene Monday with three environmental battles on their docket. In October, they’ll consider a water permitting case brought by San Francisco against EPA. Later in the term, they’ll delve into federal regulators’ authority to authorize temporary nuclear waste storage sites. They will also examine whether to set new limits on the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires agencies to take a “hard look” at the impact of highways, pipelines and other major federal projects.
Environmental lawyers say they’re not optimistic about how the Supreme Court will rule in the cases — especially after the justices reached a decision in June to overturn the Chevron doctrine, which for 40 years helped the government defend rules on key issues like public health, food safety and climate change.