Supreme Court Blocks EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor’ Rule Limiting Air Pollution Across State Lines

The United States Supreme Court has put a temporary hold on enforcement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s “Good Neighbor” plan that aims to reduce the drifting of dangerous air pollution from power plants and factories in states in the West and Midwest into those in the East.

The 5-4 decision of the Court granted requests by the states of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia — along with oil and gas pipeline operator Kinder Morgan, U.S. Steel Corporation and industry groups — to stop enforcement of the rule while they contest its legality in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, reported Reuters.

In their original suit, plaintiffs argued that the EPA had violated a federal law meant to ensure the actions of agencies are reasonable.

“The court grants the states’ application to put the rule on hold while the case proceeds in the lower courts,” a majority of the justices ruled, as The Guardian reported. The judges added that the EPA would likely lose its case in circuit court.

Joining the three liberal justices in dissent, Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote that the court “justifies this decision based on an alleged procedural error that likely had no impact on the plan.”

EPA’s Good Neighbor rule was initially issued in March of last year with the intent of tackling ozone-forming gases — a main component of smog — from industrial sources in 23 states whose plans didn’t meet the standards of the Clean Air Act’s “Good Neighbor” provision.

The Clean Air Act permits states to come up with their own air pollution plans, subject to EPA approval.

The Court’s ruling was provisional while the appeals court case continues, but the temporary halt to enforcement of the EPA plan will result in it being suspended for months and possibly longer, reported The New York Times.

The ruling came after other recent decisions that undercut the EPA’s authority to combat water pollution and climate change.

The application by the three states asking the Supreme Court to block the Good Neighbor rule called it “a failed experiment” and “a shell of its original self.”

The EPA responded, arguing that blocking the rule would have dire consequences and that the national rule should not be affected by the states’ plans.

“It would delay efforts to control pollution that contributes to unhealthy air in downwind states, which is contrary to Congress’s express directive that sources in upwind states must assume responsibility for their contributions to emissions levels in downwind states,” the brief on behalf of the EPA said.