The Supreme Court on Wednesday is reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to cut emissions from power plants and factories to reduce pollution that blows into neighboring states — a federal initiative that environmentalists have said is necessary to protect people, especially children and the elderly, from lung-damaging smog.
Those challenging the effort include three states — Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia — and various industry groups that have asked the high court to put the Biden administration’s plans on hold while they work to defeat the rules in the lower courts. In an unusual move, the justices went a step further than that request, agreeing not only to decide whether to suspend the EPA regulation, but also to consider whether it is reasonable before a lower court has ruled on that question.
Supporters of what’s known as the “good neighbor” rule say there would be real health consequences from even a temporary stay of the regulation.
It expands on an Obama-era rule that required power plants in Midwestern and Appalachian states to clean up their emissions, which the nation’s prevailing west-to-east winds carry across state boundaries.
President Biden’s EPA extended the mandate to cover steel mills, cement factories and other major sources of industrial air pollution. The new limits target nitrogen oxide pollution, a major component of ground-level ozone, or smog, that has been found to worsen asthma, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses. They are designed to cut emissions of nitrogen dioxide from upwind states by roughly 70,000 tons by summer 2026, which EPA officials estimate could prevent as many as 1,300 premature deaths and reduce hospital and emergency room visits.
Although it was intended to cover 23 states, separate legal challenges in lower courts have prevented the rule from fully taking effect. Today, it is in force in 11 states.
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday is reviewing the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to cut emissions from power plants and factories to reduce pollution that blows into neighboring states — a federal initiative that environmentalists have said is necessary to protect people, especially children and the elderly, from lung-damaging smog.
Those challenging the effort include three states — Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia — and various industry groups that have asked the high court to put the Biden administration’s plans on hold while they work to defeat the rules in the lower courts. In an unusual move, the justices went a step further than that request, agreeing not only to decide whether to suspend the EPA regulation, but also to consider whether it is reasonable before a lower court has ruled on that question.
Supporters of what’s known as the “good neighbor” rule say there would be real health consequences from even a temporary stay of the regulation.
It expands on an Obama-era rule that required power plants in Midwestern and Appalachian states to clean up their emissions, which the nation’s prevailing west-to-east winds carry across state boundaries.
President Biden’s EPA extended the mandate to cover steel mills, cement factories and other major sources of industrial air pollution. The new limits target nitrogen oxide pollution, a major component of ground-level ozone, or smog, that has been found to worsen asthma, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses. They are designed to cut emissions of nitrogen dioxide from upwind states by roughly 70,000 tons by summer 2026, which EPA officials estimate could prevent as many as 1,300 premature deaths and reduce hospital and emergency room visits.
Although it was intended to cover 23 states, separate legal challenges in lower courts have prevented the rule from fully taking effect. Today, it is in force in 11 states.
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Just imagine being pro-pollution