The nation came to learn during the pandemic the tension between elected officials doing what is in the best wellbeing interests of the public and the adverse impact that doing so tends to have on the U.S. Economy. Additionally, the nation came to learn that elected officials whether it was the result of political pressure or corporate pressure, were more than willing to ignore what is best wellbeing interests of the public, to do what is perceived as economically expedient. This same dynamic is playing out in Kinder Morgan, Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 144 S.Ct. 538 (2023).

In 1963, in an effort to regulate air quality, the United States Congress enacted the Clean Air Act (or “CAA”). In furtherance thereof, Congress established the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (“NAAQS”), and from time to time, revised the NAAQS as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) efforts to regulate air quality. Therefore, the EPA created NAAQS standards designed to regulate ozone emissions. At a moment in time in which the globe, both in the U.S. and abroad, is burning up in air temperatures, the same U.S. Congress that cannot get anything done, now has a Supreme Court to partner with it to ensure that Congress is not able to get anything done. Therefore, in Kinder Morgan, the U.S. Supreme Court will most likely rule in favor of Kinder Morgan and against the EPA, thereby restricting its ability to regulate ozone emissions at a time when that is most needed.