The North Carolina Chamber applauds the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling yesterday to rein in the Environmental Protection Agency’s overreach and attempt to require burdensome, costly permits for millions of small businesses across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the EPA’s “Tailoring Rule” and held that the EPA does not have the power to require burdensome new permits for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for all stationary sources.

At the end of 2013, the North Carolina Chamber joined 74 other state and local business associations from 33 different states in an amicus brief filed in the U.S. Supreme Court explaining the devastating economic impact of the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations. In the amicus brief, we expressed concern that the EPA issued these regulations without the legal authority to do so and that there is a wide lack of clarity about the true scope of the Government’s greenhouse gas regulations. The court agreed that the EPA went overboard. This is an important, positive step for the business community as the ruling stressed the cost of the EPA’s unauthorized actions on small business.

As the EPA considers its next suite of GHG regulations for new and existing power plants, we encourage the agency to heed the warning of the Supreme Court that it may not ‘bring about an enormous and transformative expansion in the EPA’s regulatory authority without clear congressional authorization.’

Read more about the ruling here.