The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday established limits on the federal government's power to reduce carbon emissions from power plants.The ruling immediately affects President Joe Biden's plans to deal with climate change by cutting the release of carbon gases into the atmosphere.It also raises new legal questions about government agencies' power to set rules and regulations.Scientists say greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, trap heat and cause the atmosphere to warm.The court's six-to-three ruling restricted the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal- and gas-fueled electricity plants under the Clean Air Act anti-pollution law.The court's six conservatives were in the majority decision with the three liberals disagreeing.With Thursday's ruling, the high court overturned a lower court decision in 2021 that had struck down former President Donald Trump's Affordable Clean Energy rule.That regulation, which the Biden administration has said it does not want to keep, would set limits on the EPA's power to regulate emissions from existing power plants.
