Yeah, “jealously guarding their Powers” is a quote I keep using in talking about what each of our co-equal Branches of Government should be doing (but haven’t). Yet, in the lengthening shadow of the SCOTUS decision that the EPA could just make stuff up on their own (e.g., can’t regulate CO2 emissions of power plants because Congress never delegated that Power to that Federal agency), Biden’s EPA is brazenly going to do it again but with cars instead of power plants (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Biden admin unveils plan for states to track and reduce CO2 emissions from cars driving on highways
The Biden administration proposed a rule that would require the states to track greenhouse gas emissions and set declining emission targets for highway traffic on Thursday. Under the proposed system, state DOTs and Metropolitan Planning Organizations will be required to set declining targets for on-road emissions generated by vehicles on the National Highway System (NHS). The Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for states and municipalities to “track and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on their highways.” The proposed plan would establish declining carbon dioxide targets statewide and create a method for the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.
And which bill created that authorizing Power delegation for the EPA to force States to do all that data collection on the “National” highway system? Note the “declining” bit too – yet another way to force people to use only electric cars – no tailpipes, dontcha know? Turns out – nada:
“The Transportation Department’s proposed rule to force states to regulate CO2 emissions from vehicles on highways is preposterous because it has no basis in law,” Myron Ebell, director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Energy and Environment, told the Daily Caller News Foundation…However, no particular target is being set by this rule, as long as it aligns with the net-zero targets directed by the President in two Executive Orders and agreed upon at the International Leaders Summit on Climate. “The authority claimed is based on two Executive Orders signed by President Biden last year and the International Leaders Summit on Climate. None of these has any legal authority, ” Ebell continued.
An Executive Order can only tell the employees of the Executive Branch what to do – NOT the States. And any kind of document that may have been signed at the that Summit by Biden but it isn’t a valid treaty until the US Senate ratifies it (which hasn’t been done).
But there is PLENTY of Federal money at the ready to be doled out by the Feds to make this happen. Once again, will we see NH’s Governor Chris Sununu and the Executive Council sign the paperwork (otherwise known as a BRIBE) and start implementing this? After all, they all took a knee in taking the HHS money for more COVID money, didn’t they? Giving up our State Sovereignty in exchange for a check.
Or will he lead from the Front and tell Biden and his DOT (and pipsqueak Buttegieg) to go pound sand? After all, with SCOTUS shutting down the EPA’s use of a gas to shut down fossil fuel electrical generation plants, the same principle applies.
If Congress hasn’t given the Executive Branch such a Power, they can’t give it to themselves. Smacked around once and ending up on the floor of the MMA octagon, they just HAD to try it again. I would love to see SCOTUS throw them, not a right hook, but a jump spinning heel kick to lay them out and carried out the door.
I can’t tell which it is – Stupidity, Chutzpah, or sheer Animosity and Arrogance.
(H/T: True North Reports)
