The Spectacle Blog
More about this later in the week, but today the American Tradition Institute Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit against Colorado that claims the state’s Renewable Energy Standard — which requires major utilities to get 30 percent of their power generation from renewables by the year 2020 — is unconstitutional. Because electricity is distributed to a grid that crosses state lines, the constraints put on power sales by the law affect several issues under the interstate Commerce Clause, which reserves those regulatory powers for the federal government, not states. You can read about our claims in the complaint we filed this morning.
For further illumination I’ve got a piece in the Washington Times today, and our Law Center Director, David Schnare, has a column at Bacon’s Rebellion.
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More Blog Posts by Paul Chesser
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/04/04/suing-colorado-over-renewables
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Sean| 4.4.11 @ 4:24PM
The Supreme Court has ruled that Congress has the authority to regulate what we grow even for our own consumption. IF they are going to be consistent then all local and state government regulations are unconstitutional. Want to ban smoking in restaurants? Why that affects interstate commerce. Want to add a sales tax? That affects interstate commerce. Want to regulate fast food. ect,ect,ect.
Alan Brooks| 4.4.11 @ 9:31PM
You want to ruin Colorado the way you ruined the Gulf?
Rich Rostrom| 4.4.11 @ 10:41PM
This law is a very stupid idea, but I see nothing unconstitutional about it. For one, even if the Colorado law is pre-empted by Federal law - that applies only if there is pre-empting Federal law. So the Constitution doesn't rule it out.
For another: surely a state has the power to regulate the nature of goods sold within its borders, even if those goods are not produced within its borders.
Can a state ban the sale of, say Japanese blowfish meat? (That's "Fugu", which is regarded as a fabulous delicacy, even though it can be fatally poisonous if not prepared perfectly.) Blowfish isn't produced in any state.
This is a dumb law, but I don't approve of twisting the Commerce Clause to defeat it.
Alan Brooks| 4.5.11 @ 1:24AM
You want every state to be more polluted, filled with more cigarette smokers, more white trash churches?
Pecos Pete| 4.5.11 @ 7:33AM
"white trash churches?" ... where'd that come from? Just another reason to ignore Alan Brooks.