WH Climate Adviser McCarthy: We’ll ‘Transition to Clean Energy, Regardless’ of SCOTUS — ‘Move Forward’ Even If They Want to ‘Hold Us Back’

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” White House national climate advisor Gina McCarthy said that the Supreme Court didn’t bar the EPA from pursuing President Biden’s climate goals and vowed, “we will see the transition to clean energy, regardless of the Supreme Court.” And that “We’re going to keep moving forward, even though the Supreme Court would like to look backwards and hold us back.”

McCarthy said the decision “did limit the ability of the EPA to use one section of the Clean Air Act in a way they had used to tackle the climate crisis. But it did not prevent them from acting in a regulatory way. And this president is fully committed to moving forward to tackle the climate crisis, and he’s using bold steps throughout the whole of government in order to get that done. And so, we will see the transition to clean energy, regardless of the Supreme Court.”

She later added that the ruling “took away one small authority we had, and it sent some signals about what the Supreme Court might do in the future. But right now, we have full authority to get and move forward and achieve the president’s goals. Look, the private sector isn’t sitting around, twiddling its thumbs, worried about one provision in the Clean Air Act. It’s worried about moving forward to capture the clean energy market of today. … So, we’re not giving up. We’re actually going to double down. And we know that we have the legal authority. And frankly, we have the mandate of the people in the United States and across the world who want to address this challenge of climate change and do it in a way that makes positive improvements in our lives. This is about protecting public health. This is about advancing our interests of our families and our workers. We’re going to keep moving forward, even though the Supreme Court would like to look backwards and hold us back.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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