In reaction to the US Supreme Court’s ruling on West Virginia v. EPA, Oxfam America’s Senior Climate Policy Advisor, Russell Armstrong, made the following statement:
“Today’s ruling is another blow to the US’s climate ambitions, limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s power under the Clean Air Act to protect people and planet from the catastrophic consequences of greenhouse gas emissions. This decision protects fossil fuel interests resistant to change and will make it harder for the US to meet its goal to cut emissions in half by the end of the decade by transitioning to systems of clean energy.
“The Clean Air Act is one of the strongest environmental protection laws the US has. At a time when the world is already at 1.2 degrees Celsius warming above pre-industrial levels – leading to megadroughts, rising sea levels, and intense wildfires that cause hunger, poverty and death – we must use every tool at our disposal to shift away from fossil fuel companies' dangerous stranglehold on our economics, our politics, and our climate.
“Congress’ dismal track record on climate underscores the importance for federal agencies like the EPA to develop and enforce their own regulations. The EPA, along with other relevant federal agencies, must be empowered to make decisions that prohibit environmental racism, electrify the grid, slow climate change, and reflect the will of the people and the law.
“Today’s ruling must be an energizing call to action. We can and must do much more to fight climate change. As the second largest emitter of carbon pollution, and the largest historical emitter, the US has an obligation to its people and the global community to lead the effort away from fossil fuels and towards a clean and just energy future.”