The Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated the Environmental Protection Agency’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule that will force downwind polluters to stem emissions that travel into the Northeast.
The high court's 6-2 decision Tuesday means that the Cross State Interstate Rule adopted by the EPA in 2011 to limit emissions from power plants can take effect. The rule sets emission levels for power plants in upwind states that contribute to air quality degradation in other states. Power companies and several states sued to block the rule from taking effect. In 2012, an appeals court invalidated the rule.
New York led a coalition of nine states and the District of Columbia and five cities in the appeal. Michael Myers is Chief of the Affirmative Litigation Section in the NYS Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau. He says the rule needed to be reinstated. “The public health benefits that we expect in terms of reduced premature deaths and lung illnesses that are caused by particulate matter and also ozone pollution. By requiring power plants that are upwind of New York and other Northeastern states to reduce their emissions of the pollutants that cause those ailments, we see this as a good step in that direction. The second important thing here in terms of the Supreme Court’s decision is it’s going to provide some needed clarity that both the states and EPA will need to try and solve interstate air pollution.”
The Cross State Pollution Rule focuses on sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, key elements of acid rain. The Adirondack Council was among the groups that pressed for the appeal. Spokesman John Sheehan says the Supreme Court’s ruling means the end of acid rain. “Additional cuts will be required of the states that are most responsible for causing the acid rain problem in the Adirondacks right now. New York State was the first state in the nation to clean up its emissions from its power plants. But we learned over time that the places that were not participating in that clean-up were contributing much more pollution to us than we had anticipated. This ruling says those states can no longer cause pollution in New York State. They have to clean up their smokestack emissions to the point where they’re not dumping on their neighbors anymore. This is the justice that we had asked the court to give the Adirondacks.”
The American Lung Association this week released its State of the Air report showing most areas of the country are experiencing worse ozone pollution. Vice President for Public Policy and Communications Michael Seilback hopes re-establishment of the Cross State Pollution Rule leads to better future grades. “We know that these power plants cause 34,000 premature deaths nationwide. They trigger over 400,000 asthma attacks. This is going to have a major effect on public health. This decision said that power plants’ air pollution can’t continue to just come to Albany and to the Northeast without controls being put on. Finally we’re going to see the second hand smog be curtailed.”
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the court's majority opinion. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented, while Samuel Alito recused himself.
