Reclaim Democracy!

Key 2024 Supreme Court Cases — environment and democracy: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

by

Will a majority of Justices overturn a 40-year-old precedent to grab more power for itself and for corporations?

March 2024

On the surface Loper Bright is a dispute about fishing corporations challenging the power of the National Marine Fisheries Service to require them to pay the cost of observers who monitor companies’ compliance with federal fishery rules. But this seemingly narrow legal question actually could yield widely destructive consequences because the justices have opted to re-examine a 40-year-old precedent the court established in Chevron Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council. 

That precedent, widely known as the Chevron Doctrine, says state courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretation of a law when the language is ambiguous or leaves discretion regarding implementation.

Chevron effectively says the civil servants with expertise in their field and who are accountable to an elected president should decide how to implement Congress’ mandates, rather than judges — a principle clearly rejected by the most regressive justices. Reversing this precedent would do enormous harm, stripping many federal agencies charged with protecting civil rights, consumers, and public health and safety; limiting pollution and environmental harm; and much more. 

Stripping the Environmental Protection Agency of its authority to limit carbon emissions is one obvious industry target. 

Dozens of corporate and far-right advocacy groups are pushing the court to overturn Chevron and anoint federal courts as the arbiters of which federal regulations are proper. Such a ruling would invite floods of lawsuits challenging rules that limit or regulate corporate activities. Workplace safety rules, product safety regulations, and limiting emissions to abate the climate crisis are among the obvious targets.

Reversing Chevron also would undermine other core Unitarian Universalist values by enabling state politicians to challenge crucial federal civil rights and voting protections.

Congress is ill-equipped to manage the day-to-day administration of legislation it passes and necessarily must empower federal agencies to turn its broad directives into specific actions based on good-faith interpretations. Those actions remain subject to judicial oversight if any agency truly exceeds its authority. Accordingly, SCOTUS should uphold theChevron precedent and sustain the ability of civil servants to do their jobs effectively.

SCOTUS however, appears likely to at least weaken, if not overturn, the Chevron Principle, based on reports from oral argument.

Origin and Status: The case came on a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In October, the court also agreed to hear a second challenge to the Chevron Doctrine, Relentless v. Department of Commerce, which will be argued simultaneously with Loper v. Raimondo. 

Related: Edison Electric Institute v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC):  Other corporations also are pushing the Court to overrule Chevron and grant them more power. The Edison Electric Institute and the utility NorthWestern Energy seek to have a lower court ruling in favor of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission overturned. They object to approval of a FERC finding that a Montana solar and battery storage facility qualifies for incentives that encourage small renewable energy producers to upload power to the grid. No action has been taken by the Court as of April 2024.

Follow-up: USPS Changes Course, Plans Major Investment in Electric Delivery Vehicles

by

In January, we blasted the plan by U.S. Postmaster Louis DeJoy to purchase tens of thousands of gas-guzzling delivery trucks for roles perfectly suited to electric vehicles and urged people to speak out in opposition to the disastrous deal, according to a the A-1 Auto Transport cost estimator website in a blog post. Now, we’re excited to learn the USPS changed course and announced plans to purchase at least 66,000 electric delivery vehicles–more than half the 106,000 delivery vehicles it plans to acquire over the next five years.

The USPS said about one-third of the investment for fleet electrification comes from the Inflation Reduction Act. The plan calls for purchasing 60,000 trucks from the military contractor Oshkosh Corporation, of which 45,000 will be electric. USPS will buy 46,000 new vehicles from mainstream manufacturers, of which 21,000 will be electric.

Along with grassroots opposition, sixteen states filed suit in April to halt the purchase of gas-powered trucks, joining many environmental groups calling for investing in electric vehicles instead.

We thank all the people and organizations who rallied opposition to the earlier plan to entrench an environmentally destructive delivery fleet for a generation. It’s a victory worth celebrating as we close the year.

See the original post from January here.

USPS Purchasing Gas Guzzlers Would Be a Disaster for the Climate and Customers

by

By Jeff Milchen
January 13, 2022

Transportation generates  29 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, meaning any serious work to mitigate harm from global warming requires changing how we move people and goods. And while our personal transportation choices matter, collective action to drive significant emission reductions at large institutions is essential.

Owning more than 200,000 vehicles, of which 70 percent are 25–32 years old, the U.S. Postal Service will make a global impact—for better or worse—with its choices of fleet vehicles. Local delivery trucks typically travel less than 100 miles daily at lower speeds, making them perfect candidates for electric engines. The situation creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to increase efficiency, reduce pollution, and advance economies of scale for electric vehicle production.

Just one problem: Postmaster General Louis DeJoy awarded a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar contract for those replacements to Oshkosh Defense Corporation. If that sounds to you like a company focused on making armored war machines rather than street vehicles, you’re correct. The plan calls for 90 percent of new trucks to run on gas and travel about nine miles per gallon, barely improving their predecessors.

While President Biden has called for all federal vehicle purchases to be emission-free by 2035, he lacks the authority to control (or fire) the postmaster directly. Biden has appointed most of the USPS Board of Governors, but his selections seem likely to give DeJoy full autonomy. DeJoy gained notoriety by taking hundreds of mail sorting machines out of service just before the 2020 elections and slowed mail service dramatically. 

In a February 6 statement, DeJoy cited budget deficits he inherited as the obstacle to buying more costly electric vehicles. Though USPS is a public service, it is expected to fund itself without direct federal assistance. Yet Congress imposes onerous requirements on USPS to pre-fund employee retirement benefits far into the future, contributing to its deficit. This week, a bill to relieve that burden is moving through Congress, potentially saving USPS $50 billion over the next decade.

If the bill passes, the opportunity should not be wasted. While the gas-powered trucks are cheaper to purchase initially, lower operating and maintenance costs for electric trucks start saving money immediately, and full fleet electrification could save $4.3 billion (PDF) over a generation of vehicles.

Notably, Biden’s Build Back Better bill, defeated via Senate filibuster, would have fully funded a USPS transition to electric vehicles. 

Upon learning of the USPS procurement plan, the Environmental Protection Agency wrote to USPS urging reconsideration. It claims the decision was based on faulty analysis, including absurd assumptions about battery and gasoline prices. The letter also accused the USPS of illegally awarding $482 million to Oshkosh Inc. before an environmental review.

The dispute also exposed a dangerous EPA rules loophole that incentivizes bigger, more polluting trucks. For example, vehicles classified as light trucks (combined vehicle weight + payload up to 8,500 pounds) must meet significant efficiency requirements from which heavy trucks (exceeding 8,500 pounds) are exempt. In a cynical ploy to evade EPA standards, the Oshkosh /DeJoy agreement calls for vehicles with a combined vehicle weight of 8,501 pounds—nearly double the weight of most current USPS vehicles.

USPS estimates $3.3 billion would cover a complete transition to electric vehicles. For reference, Congress allotted $24 billion more than anyone requested for military spending. Surely we can afford the relatively modest investment to defend against climate calamity the Pentagon cites as a top security threat. 

While we should urge our representatives to enable that crucial step, this conflict should inspire us to look at the procurement choices being made close to home by our schools, local governments, and other institutions we can influence directly. Our individual choices as consumers matter. But only through our actions as citizens can we drive change on the scale our climate crisis demands.

Reclaim Democracy board member Jeff Milchen adapted this commentary from a report he first wrote for UU World.