Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
Washington, D.C. – Today, the United States Supreme Court sided with polluting states and industry groups by pausing implementation of EPA’s strategy to address harmful air pollution that crosses state lines, called the Good Neighbor Plan.
EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan addresses dangerous cross-state smog pollution using a combination of approaches proven to limit a key ingredient in smog: ozone season emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx).
In February, to avoid complying with the plan, Ohio, Indiana, and West Virginia argued against EPA’s Good Neighbor Plan before the Supreme Court alongside industry groups including oil and gas and coal mining groups. The Supreme Court had previously taken the uncommon step of hearing the case from the emergency docket, also known as the shadow docket.
The Good Neighbor Plan was implemented in Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and reduced harmful NOx pollution in those states by 18 percent during the 2023 ozone season. In January 2024, EPA also proposed adding five new states to the rule, expanding it to include Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico and Tennessee.
Today’s stay of the Good Neighbor Plan pauses implementation of the plan in all states while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit considers legal challenges to the rule.
In response, Sierra Club Chief Energy Officer Holly Bender released the following statement:
“Giving corporate polluters a pass to keep prioritizing profits over people is a devastating outcome for public health, especially as we prepare for a summer that could be one of the worst smog seasons on record. Contrary to what some of the Justices seem to believe, human lives are infinitely more important than corporate compliance costs with basic, decade-old air pollution standards. Our most vulnerable are at risk from this dangerous pollution crossing from one state to another, and that the Court is turning away from an approach to protecting air quality it itself had blessed just ten years ago should concern us all.
“The Supreme Court's decision to hear this case directly before it was ripe for appeal was unusual, as Justice Barrett noted in her dissent. By allowing polluters to short-circuit the normal process of judicial review, it sets a dangerous precedent. Today’s decision is not only harmful to communities breathing polluted air, but to democracy itself.”
Background: A coalition of environmental and health groups has been defending the Good Neighbor Rule as intervenors in the D.C. Circuit litigation and filed oppositions to the Supreme Court applications seeking to block these safeguards. The coalition includes: Environmental Defense Fund; Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, Clean Air Council, and Clean Wisconsin represented by Clean Air Task Force; and Air Alliance Houston, Appalachian Mountain Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Downwinders at Risk, Earthjustice, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, Sierra Club, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, represented by attorneys at Earthjustice.
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.