Climate Law Gives Clean Air Act a Legal Boost After Court Rebuke

The Inflation Reduction Act will bolster the EPA’s defenses against future legal challenges, advocates say, reinforcing the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act following a setback from the Supreme Court this summer.

Signed by President Joe Biden on Aug. 16, Democrats’ massive clean energy spending package “modernizes” bedrock clean air statute in “far-reaching” ways that haven’t been seen since the law was last amended, according to a white paper issued by the Environmental Defense Fund.

“These are the most extensive amendments to the Clean Air Act since 1990,” according to Environmental Defense Fund president Fred ...