Well, yes, they can. What the WV v EPA ruling said was that Los Federales shouldn’t be passing massive regulations from the Executive Branch, they should come from the Legislative Branch. Which includes state legislatures
After Supreme Court limits federal ability to combat climate change, states step in
The Supreme Court’s restriction of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions has led to calls for governors in blue states to launch initiatives to combat climate change.
“We’ve got to double down, quadruple down, here in California and in blue states all across America,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said on June 30, in response to the ruling handed down that day in West Virginia v. EPA, which held that the EPA may not require electric utilities to move away from coal-fired power plants.
And in fact states do have considerable power to reduce the emissions causing climate change, since they are actually the primary regulator of the companies that deliver electricity to consumers.
“Constitutionally, states can do a lot of things within their own boundaries to address greenhouse gases,” Barry Rabe, a professor of environmental policy at the University of Michigan, told Yahoo News. “We’ve seen this now for about a quarter-century — some states have tried a pretty wide range of efforts, for the most part working on their own, although in a few cases working together across state borders or boundaries. So I would say the sky’s the limit.”
Go for it, climate cult states. Let’s see how that works out for your economies and energy sector. If only there was a way to restrict the people who vote for this to be forced to stay in their states, rather than escaping.
One major option that states possess to regulate greenhouse gas emissions is the power to dictate the sources of energy used by their electric utilities.
Do it! I triple dog dare you. Every experiment needs experimental groups.
