WASHINGTON, D.C.— Dennis M. Kelleher, President and CEO, issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA:

“The decision by the Supreme Court today to limit the EPA’s authority to enact sensible and necessary regulations is a dagger aimed at the heart of the post-New Deal administrative state that was created to promote the broad public interest by protecting the health, safety, and welfare of all Americans. Recognizing that Congress did not have the expertise and was not structured or able to properly address some of the most important issues facing the country, it created regulatory agencies to hire experts, gather and analyze data, seek and receive public input, and enact regulations to respond to the many complex issues that arise from a vast and complex economic system and a sprawling, technologically advanced country.  The broad public interest is the overriding priority and guidepost of those regulatory agencies.

“However, many of the decisions of those regulatory agencies were opposed by Corporate America, which has had a goal for decades now to cripple if not kill some of the most important regulatory agencies in the country. Because those agencies protected the public, Corporate America could not get enough officials elected to eliminate the agencies through the ballot box so they have focused their money and power on getting judges appointed who would do their dirty work for them.  This tortured and benighted decision is the result of that decades-long project.

“Don’t be fooled by the legalese: the decision substitutes the ideology of six unelected, hyper-conservative justices for the data-driven decisions of experts who are mandated to protect the American people after extensive input from the public.  There is little doubt that this hyper-conservative majority intends to extend this anti-regulatory ideology to the rest of the regulatory agencies. The result will be significantly fewer protections for the American people from corporate misconduct, dirty air and water, unsafe toys and other products, dangerous predatory conduct by Wall Street banks, and so much more that will threaten the health, safety and welfare of the American people.”

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