Michigan LCV responds to Chevron case decision

Public agencies, scientific experts disarmed after U.S. Supreme Court ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Michigan League of Conservation Voters today issued the following statement following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision stripping away the right of public agencies, like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to protect our water, air and land.

“The ability of public agencies, like the Environmental Protection Agency, to hold corporate polluters accountable to clean up our water, air and land is critical to ensuring our families and kids have safe water to drink and clean air to breathe,” said Bentley Johnson, federal government affairs director for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters. “Overturning the Chevron doctrine, which has guided our country for decades, will gut necessary protections for our communities. This will open the door for politicians who are not experts to make decisions that put our health and safety at risk.”

Under the Chevron doctrine, if there is ambiguity in a federal statute administered by an expert agency (such as the way the EPA administers the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act), courts are supposed to defer to the agency’s reasonable interpretation of the statute. Simply put, in those situations, judges are supposed to defer to the experts on the subject matter and its implementation. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, overturned the bedrock Chevron Doctrine.