October 4, 2023–Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)–It remains to be seen how far those anti-regulatory aspirations will go during the just-started term of the U.S. Supreme Court. The court has agreed to hear oral arguments during the current term, which began October 2, to reverse an earlier Supreme Court case on the scope and authority of federal regulatory agencies. Energy companies are not among the plaintiffs in the case at hand, but the ruling could potentially affect the regulation of mining companies, oil and gas producers, pipeline companies, power companies, and other industries operating under federal regulatory oversight.

Nearly 40 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council that courts must defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute providing that interpretation is reasonable. The so-called “Chevron doctrine” will be revisited during this term when the highest court in the land will hear oral arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which a group of commercial fishing companies are challenging a rule issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service that requires the fishing industry to pay for the costs of observers who monitor compliance with fishery management plans.

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