he U.S. Supreme Court reduced the power of the EPA to regulate carbon emissions in June.
A panel at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs’ Center for Policy Research covered the decision’s implications along with the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, which increased credits for renewable energy sources and allocated funding toward electric transportation.
University Professor David Driesen participated on the panel, highlighting that the court stopped the EPA from enforcing regulations on coal-fired power plants. The agency initially attempted to reduce the industry’s emissions by 11 percent, but Driesen is unsure if the court will stop at the EPA’s original goal. “(The decision) might even be saying that there’s some number before that,” Driesen said.
Driesen is currently studying the impact of carbon pricing through his Fulbright Scholarship at the University of Ottawa, Canada.