Power Industry Wins One, Loses Another

According to the Orange County (Calif.) Register, the power industry one won U.S. Supreme Court battle but lost a second.

On the bright side, the Court ruled 6-3 that the Environmental Protection Agency, when upgrading older power plants, may consider costs before demanding use of the most advanced technology, as required by law.

The bad news is that the EPA on Friday declared carbon dioxide and five other so-called greenhouse gas emissions to be harmful, under similar discretion provided by a previous high-court ruling. Finding the naturally occurring CO2 harmful gives government the authority to regulate the gas as it does truly harmful air pollutants.

The EPA can use its CO2 finding to pressure Congress to pass cap-and-trade regulations to limit emissions, and to require businesses to buy "permits" for annually declining emissions levels. If Congress balks, as it did last year, the Obama administration could threaten to achieve the same restrictions by administrative edict.