The Supreme Court blocked an Environmental Protection Agency rule cracking down on power plant pollution.
The Supreme Court on Thursday blocked an Environmental Protection Agency rule cracking down on power plant pollution, delivering another blow, at least in the near term, to the Biden administration as it looks to deliver on its ambitious decarbonization goals. [emphasis, links added]
In a 5-4 decision, justices agreed to pause the EPA’s so-called good neighbor rule, which seeks to strictly limit ozone pollution from power plants and other industrial sources in 23 states, as well as air pollutants that can drift downwind to other states and cause additional harm.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
The EPA’s plan, which originally applied to 23 states and was intended to provide a national solution to ozone pollution, was met instead with litigation from Republican-led lawsuits.
In September 2023, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia filed an emergency request to the Supreme Court, arguing that the EPA had overstepped its authority in imposing the plan and that it imposed costly and ineffective burdens on their states.
Plaintiffs further argued that the EPA rule should not be enforceable because it relied on the assumption that all 23 states the agency put on notice in the rule would participate in the “good neighbor” plan.
Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch agreed with the state’s assertion that the EPA’s implementation of the provision was likely an overstep of their authority and posed an undue burden to certain states.
“The problem stems from the way EPA chose to determine which emissions ‘contribute[d] significantly’ to downwind States’ difficulty meeting national ozone standards,” Gorsuch said.
Implementation of the rule is paused in 12 states due to lower court decisions — prompting complaints by the remaining 11 states that they are unfairly tasked with bearing the brunt of the burden.
Those 12 states are Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
Environmental groups took umbrage at the ruling Thursday.
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