WASHINGTON (CN) — Republican-led states and the petroleum industry asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to block federal regulations aimed at reducing cross-state air pollution.
“The plan inflicts irreparable, economic injuries on the States and others every day it remains in effect,” Ohio Deputy Solicitor General Mathura Sridharan wrote. “Worse still, the plan is likely to cause electric-grid emergencies, as power suppliers strain to adjust to the federal plan’s terms. To prevent these harms, the Court should step in now.”
The Environmental Protection Agency’s "good neighbor" rule would force states and polluting industries to decrease emissions contributing to smog. The harmful air pollutant generated by vehicles, factories and power plants has been linked to asthma attacks, heart and lung diseases and premature deaths.
Ground-level ozone like smog is an issue not only an issue for states with polluting industries, but also for their neighbors.
According to the EPA, Connecticut has the highest ground-level ozone levels in the eastern half of the country, but only 5% of that figure is state-born. That means downwind states like Connecticut are struggling to meet air-quality standards because of their upwind neighbors.
The government singled out 23 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, for producing industrial nitrogen oxide emissions that have an effect on their neighboring states. The “good neighbor” rule would force those two dozen states to abide by requirements to reduce smog production.
When the EPA attempted to implement the “good neighbor” rule in 2022, many states challenged the agency in court. In the present matter, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia claim the government exceeded its authority by rejecting the states’ implementation plan in favor of a federal plan.
The EPA approved only two of the states’ plans, rejecting 19 submissions. In August, the federal plans began to take effect. Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit in an attempt to block the rule’s implementation. The states argued the EPA’s rulemaking process circumvented the Clean Air Act’s cooperative federalism mandate.
The appeals court denied the stay request, leaving the states to appeal to the justices.
Ohio says the agency’s rule is a disaster, claiming it will only reach 25% of the emissions it set out to regulate.
“In reality, the federal plan was always doomed; the EPA’s carefully timed gambit to work around the Clean Air Act’s structure of cooperative federalism was never going to work,” Sridharan wrote. “With any reasoned consideration, the EPA would have known as much.”
Gas industry members joined the states in their emergency appeal. Petroleum producers say it would be impossible for thousands of pipeline engines to meet the emissions rate limits by 2026.
“This date is flat-out impossible for all subject pipeline engines to achieve,” Catherine Stetson, an attorney with Hogan Lovells representing the groups wrote.
“Indeed, even to make progress on achieving compliance by that date, operators must significantly impair their ability to serve residential and commercial natural gas and electric power demand across the United States in the short term — making it all the more remarkable that EPA made no effort to even discuss the impacts of its Rule with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency charged with ensuring the safe and reliable transportation of natural gas.”
Another group of trade associations and electric companies categorized the EPA’s actions as stubborn.
“EPA’s willful decision to move forward has simultaneously abrogated the rights of States to regulate air pollution within their borders and improperly forced industries regulated by the Federal Plan into the immediate expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars pending the lower court’s review, all while jeopardizing the reliability of the electric grid,” Jonathan Ellis, an attorney with McGuire Woods representing the groups, wrote.
On Sept. 21, the plan was implemented in 10 states including Indiana and Ohio. As it stands, the agency’s rule is not being implemented in a dozen states including West Virginia following lower court orders.
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