In another thrilling installment of “Who’s Regulating Whom Now,” the Supreme Court has placed a temporary hold on the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to reduce air pollution drifting from one state to another, thereby putting the brakes on a federal plan that had hoped to make it just a tad harder for Midwestern smokestacks to share their fumes with the East Coast.
At the center of the hold-up is the EPA’s “Good Neighbor Plan” which, despite its inviting name, has not garnered much neighborly support from certain states or industries. The plan aims to cut smog-forming pollutants like nitrogen oxide that waft across state lines, contributing to unbreathable air and inconvenient spikes in asthma in downwind communities. Naturally, some states and energy companies were less than thrilled about being told to put a cap on their invisible exports.
The justices, in a 5-4 ruling on Thursday, sided with the challengers who argued that the plan was based on incomplete data and would impose steep changes before all legal challenges were settled. Writing for the majority, Justice Gorsuch said the EPA had overstepped by enforcing the regulation before finalizing how it would apply across all 23 states initially targeted, because apparently implementing clean air rules is a bit like hosting a dinner party — you really need everyone’s RSVP before setting the table.
Dissenting, Justice Barrett wrote that the majority had essentially frozen the agency’s entire strategy based on the complaints of just a handful of states. She pointed out, with restrained legal dismay, that allowing some smoke to continue floating unfettered while the case proceeds might not be in the best interest of the people who, say, use lungs on a daily basis.
The ruling does not strike down the regulation entirely, but rather suspends its enforcement for now, meaning the EPA’s ambitions to limit air pollution remain alive, just in a medically induced coma pending further litigation. Lower courts will have the pleasure of untangling the web of legal arguments as the EPA continues to attempt the bureaucratic equivalent of herding meteorological cats.
So for now, the air remains just as democratic as ever — everyone gets a whiff, whether they asked for it or not.