Bloomberg Law interviewed McGuireWoods partner Allison Wood for a Nov. 1, 2021, story on an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case that will test the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act.
“This is probably the biggest climate case on the Supreme Court’s docket in a decade,” said Wood, a Washington, D.C., partner who has represented clients in every major case involving greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act, including three landmark Supreme Court cases. Wood chairs the five-person executive committee leading McGuireWoods’ ESG task force.
The Supreme Court on Oct. 29, 2021, agreed to hear challenges from West Virginia, North Dakota and two coal companies to the EPA’s authority to restrict carbon emissions from power plants through Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act. The court’s decision to hear arguments indicates the justices are “very concerned about the limitations that EPA has under this provision,” Wood told Bloomberg Law.
“And it shows that the cert petitions must have resonated that discussed the uncertainty to industry that has really resulted from years of not having this question resolved,” she added.