As states explore ways to advance climate policies amid federal regulatory rollbacks, courts are increasingly being asked to weigh the relationship between state authority and federal environmental law. The outcome of those disputes could vary depending on the specific regulatory program at issue, creating uncertainty until higher courts provide additional guidance.
“EPA made separate endangerment findings for mobile sources, such as cars, and for stationary sources, like power plants. Each of those has its own legal and regulatory considerations,” Bracewell’s Brittany Pemberton told Politico.
Different states might use each of those justifications in different ways, she said.
“It’s possible,” Pemberton said, “that judges across the country could rule differently on each of those challenges unless and until the Supreme Court weighs in.”