SCOTUS decision sets back efforts to stem climate change
Posted June 30, 2022 in Press Releases
Policy Matters Ohio Senior Researcher and Co-Director of the Reimagine Appalachia Coalition Amanda Woodrum released the following statement in reaction to the Supreme Court’s West Virginia v. EPA decision.
“No matter where we live or what we look like, we all need clean air to breathe. For years, big energy corporations have used their wealth and influence to maintain their monopoly profits. They lobbied politicians to rig the rules in their favor, so they could pump toxic emissions into our air — especially harming Black and brown communities, and places where more people have low incomes. Instead of investing in cleaner technologies, they’d rather keep profiting even though it makes us sick and damages our climate.
“President Obama’s Clean Power Plan would have reined in investor-owned electric utilities’ ability to wreak havoc on our health and environment. If implemented, this plan would have had significant implications in Ohio where electric utilities like FirstEnergy have used their wealth and power to corrupt our political system to gut Ohio’s clean energy laws so they can maintain their stranglehold on the electricity market. So, we are disappointed by today’s decision which limits EPA’s ability tackle climate change — the effects of which can already be felt here in Ohio. Just two weeks ago, hundreds of thousands of Ohioans lost power when our antiquated electric grid couldn’t handle the demand for power during a dangerous heat wave.
“But Congress still has the power to protect our health and the planet for future generations. It’s time to pass an aggressive national climate infrastructure package.”