The US Supreme Court’s recent decision to scrap a keystone principle of administrative law — the so-called “Chevron doctrine” — has put US energy and climate policy on shaky ground, raising fresh questions for key agency rules and future executive actions of the Joe Biden administration. The landmark decision could also have a dramatic chilling effect on future, more ambitious climate and energy legislation and regulations. Considered especially vulnerable are any sort of emissions standards, including Biden’s newly minted methane standards for oil and gas operations and power plant greenhouse gas rules. But a slew of federal policies will face challenges under the decision, and the ruling could inject more paralysis into a Congress already gridlocked on energy and climate issues.
