- The Supreme Court’s decision prevented the EPA from enforcing “good neighbor” rules designed to limit emissions of air pollutants from out-of-state sources that affect downwind states.
- The rules target smokestack emissions from power plants and industries that contribute to smog-causing pollution in neighboring states.
- The rule is on hold in nearly a dozen states due to legal challenges led by energy-producing states and industry groups.
The Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday means the Environmental Protection Agency will be unable to enforce key rules limiting air pollution in nearly a dozen states while separate lawsuits continue around the country.
The EPA’s “good neighbor” rules are intended to limit smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial facilities that bring smog-causing pollutants to downwind areas.
Three energy-producing states – Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia – along with the steel industry and other groups challenged the rule as costly and ineffective, and it is on hold in 12 other states amid court challenges.
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The Supreme Court put the rule on hold while the legal fight continues, the latest blow to federal regulation from the conservative-led Supreme Court.
People walk in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, June 27, 2024. The Supreme Court’s decision Thursday means the Environmental Protection Agency can no longer enforce key rules limiting air pollution in nearly a dozen states while separate lawsuits continue across the country. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 conservative majority, has increasingly reined in the power of federal agencies, including the EPA, in recent years. Justices have limited the EPA’s power to combat air and water pollution, including a landmark 2022 ruling that limited the agency’s ability to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that contribute to global warming. The court has also struck down vaccination mandates and blocked Democratic President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program.
The Supreme Court is also considering whether to overturn the 40-year-old Chevron decision, which has served as a basis for upholding broad regulations on public health, workplace safety and consumer protection.
We consider the impact of good neighbor rules and court decisions.
What is the “good neighbor” rule?
The EPA adopted the rule as a way to protect downwind states that receive unwanted air pollution from other states. In addition to potential health hazards from out-of-state pollution, many states face their own federal deadlines to ensure clean air.
States including Wisconsin, New York and Connecticut say they are struggling to meet federal standards and reduce harmful ozone levels because of pollution from other states’ power plants, cement kilns and natural gas pipelines that drifts across state lines.
New York Deputy Attorney General Judith Vail told the court that in some states, 65 percent of smog pollution comes from outside the state.
States that contribute ground-level ozone and smog must submit plans to ensure that coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities do not significantly affect air pollution in other states. If a state does not submit a “good neighbor” plan, or if the EPA does not approve the state’s plan, downwind states are protected by a federal plan.
Few states participate
The EPA rule was intended to provide a nationwide solution to the ozone pollution problem, but opponents argued that it relied on all 23 states covered by the rule participating. In fact, only about half of the states were participating as of earlier this year.
Lawyers for industry groups challenging the rule said it would impose significant and immediate costs that could affect the reliability of the power grid. Industry lawyer Katherine Stetson said because so few states are participating, the rule’s impact on reducing air pollution will be small and there’s no guarantee the final rule will be upheld.
The EPA said emissions from power plants fell 18 percent in 2023 in the 10 states that were allowed to implement rules finalized last year. Those states are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. In California, emissions limits from industrial sources other than power plants are set to take effect in 2026.
The rule is also on hold in 12 more states due to separate litigation: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Administrative overreach or life-saving protection?
Critics, including Republicans and business groups, say the good neighbor rule is an example of government abuse of power.
In their amicus brief, Republican lawmakers said the EPA’s rule “goes far beyond the authority delegated to it under the Clean Air Act and proposes to reform the energy sectors of affected states to meet EPA’s desired objectives.”
This rule and others from the Biden administration are “designed to rush fossil fuels out of America’s electricity sector by significantly raising the costs of operating fossil fuel-fired power plants and forcing them to retire early,” argued Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi. Rogers is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, while Capito and Wicker are ranking members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
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Supporters disagree, arguing that the “good neighbor” rule is essential to address interstate pollution and ensure all Americans have access to clean air.
“These limits are a key component of federal and state efforts under the Clean Air Act to protect public health, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children, seniors and people with pre-existing conditions,” said Professor Christophe Courchesne, director of the Vermont Law School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic.
Ground-level ozone is produced when industrial pollutants react chemically in the presence of sunlight and can cause respiratory illnesses such as asthma and chronic bronchitis, with people with weakened immune systems, the elderly, and children who play outdoors being particularly susceptible.
The rule applies primarily to Southern and Midwestern states that contribute to air pollution along the East Coast. Some states, such as Texas, California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Wisconsin, both contribute downwind pollution and receive pollution from other states.
