U.S. Congress Defines CO2 as Pollutant

August 24, 2022--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contains an estimated $369 billion in federal funding to combat climate change, but a one-sentence definition inserted in multiple places in the 273-page law may upend the electric power industry as much as new federal support for renewable energy.

The bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, for the first time defined carbon dioxide (CO2) as an air pollutant that can be regulated under the federal Clean Air Act. This definition directly addressed, and potentially trumped, a recent momentous U.S. Supreme Court ruling, West Virginia v. EPA, issued June 30.

In conflicts over regulation, the only way a Supreme Court ruling can be overcome is if Congress passes legislation specifically addressing what the court faulted.