Fossil Fuel Giants Fight Sustainable Energy in Two Cases

Oil, coal and gas giants are duking it out with the EPA in two environmental cases this year.

One challenge, West Virginia v. EPA, brought by the coal companies, will be heard in SCOTUS on Monday, February 28.

The case will decide if the Clean Air Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to issue significant rules — including unilaterally decarbonizing virtually any sector of the economy — without any limits.

The cases came to the justices from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. That court vacated both the Trump administration’s decision to repeal the 2015 Clean Power Plan, which sets guidelines for states to limit carbon dioxide emissions and the Affordable Clean Energy Rule that the Trump administration issued in its place.

North American Coal Corporation acknowledged the issue of climate change and how to address it has “enormous importance.” Still, the company stressed that those debates would not be resolved any time soon,” according to the brief written by Judge Miller.

Salt River hikes solar prices by 65 percent

Meanwhile, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on January 31 that Salt River Project or SRP unlawfully discriminated against customers with solar-energy systems by imposing a price structure “designed to stifle competition in the electricity market” by increasing solar customers’ bills by 65 percent while upping fossil fuel prices by single digits.

It’s ironic that SRP failed miserably when they tried to gain a foothold in the solar energy markets.

The 9^th Circuit case is called Ellis v. Salt River Project. Ellis is one of two plaintiffs who sued SRP in 2019.

“The über-issue in the fossil fuel industry and the SRP is that they are conspiring to delay, reduce and eliminate the sustainable energy competition,” says Daniel White, Town of Olive, NY, co-chair Conservation Advisor.

White says, “The price of solar electricity has decreased by over 65% in the last ten years, making it more than competitive with fossil fuel-generated electricity.

“And Arizona is pioneering solar energy because it is the hottest, driest state in the nation, an ideal climate for solar energy. (Hot, sunny deserts are perfect places for generating solar electricity.)

“This change must be uncomfortable for utilities like SRP, who are firmly tied to fossil fuel generation.

“And SRP is responding by trying to quash solar energy rather than making the expensive transition to solar generation and distribution, “White concluded.