Despite U.S. Supreme Court limiting EPA regulations, Ohio E-Checks are here to stay
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Northeast Ohio drivers will still have E-Checks for the foreseeable future, despite the U.S. Supreme Court limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The program requires Ohio residents living within Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit counties to get their vehicles tested every two years to pass regulatory emissions requirements. “Ensuring that cars are staying under the emission standards for vehicles is really important both for the air that we’re breathing, but also the atmosphere and the climate,” Chris Tavenor, staff attorney for Ohio Environmental Council, said.
In 6-3 vote on West Virginia v. EPA, the conservative majority of the court said that the Clean Air Act does not give the EPA overarching authority to regulate the power plant emissions, ones that contribute to global warming. This, however, does not include the E-Check program. “Anyone who is hoping that this decision means that existing regulations will will go away, that’s not going to happen,” Jonathan H. Adler, Case Western Reserve University law professor and environmental law expert, said. “Existing regulations will remain in force.”
Actually, nothing in this specific decision is going to impact programs in Ohio that are designed to comply with the Clean Air Act. That doesn’t mean that something can’t change from our state legislature, though. “Well, for years we’ve been trying to get rid of it because it’s a waste of $10.6 million in the budget every year,” State Rep. Diane Grendell, a Republican from Chesterland, said. “That money could be used for other things that actually did something meaningful.”
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Despite U.S. Supreme Court limiting EPA regulations, Ohio E-Checks are here to stay - Ohio Capital Journal