"Public and private power companies yesterday called for the Supreme Court to uphold EPA’s authority to broadly regulate how they produce electricity for the nation.

Consolidated Edison Inc., Exelon Corp., National Grid USA and other firms expressed their support for EPA to require the sector to cut emissions using a range of approaches that look beyond technical controls at individual facilities.

"Power companies, including the Power Company Respondents, favor emission-reduction approaches that allow for trading because these market-driven approaches enable the greatest emission reduction at the lowest cost," the companies wrote in a "friend of the court" brief docketed yesterday in the case West Virginia v. EPA.

The companies — which provide power to about 40 million Americans — had opposed Supreme Court review of the challenge launched by coal companies and Republican-led states that asked the justices to limit EPA’s options to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act."

Niina H. Farah and Lesley Clark report for E&E News January 19, 2022. [2]