WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Both sides to the debate on greenhouse gas emissions found cause for celebration in a challenge to the EPA before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The high court said Tuesday it would let stand the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate climate change. It decided, however, to hear challenges to the way in which the EPA regulated greenhouse gas emissions.
David Doniger, policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the court rejected pressure from "big polluters" questioning the EPA's authority.
"That's a huge win for anybody who cares about clean air and combating climate change," he said in a statement.
The American Petroleum Institute, the U.S. energy industry's lobbying group, said it welcomed the court's decision to consider arguments against the way the EPA regulates pollutants.
Harry Ng, general counsel for API, said the EPA was trying to regulate in a way that was beyond the intent of existing regulations on the industry.
"That kind of overreach can have enormous implications on U.S. competitiveness and the prices that consumers pay for fuel and manufactured goods," he said in a statement Tuesday.
The court is expected to hear oral arguments in the next few months. A decision from the Supreme Court is expected before it adjourns in summer 2014.
