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What dismantling of climate policy means for Colorado

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16min 32sec
Steam billows from a coal-fired power plant in Craig, Colo.
(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
FILE – Steam billows from a coal-fired power plant Nov. 18, 2021, in Craig, Colo. The Supreme Court on Thursday, June 30, 2022, limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. By a 6-3 vote, with conservatives in the majority, the court said that the Clean Air Act does not give the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming.

Last month, the Trump administration revoked the endangerment finding, the federal determination that greenhouse gases are a threat to public health and requiring government to regulate them. Last week, one of the architects behind that decision, unexpectedly resigned. Chris Winter, an environmental law professor at the University of Colorado, talks about the impact of the revocation on the state, as well the long-term implications of world events like the war in Iran and the military takeover in Venezuela.