The U.S. Supreme Court , a Biden administration rule that would have helped moderate 黑料新闻鈥檚 longstanding summertime smog and other air quality problems.
The rule would dramatically cut Midwestern and Western power plant and industrial emissions that travel east into 黑料新闻 and contribute to the state鈥檚 high asthma rates and air quality that is perpetually out of compliance with federal standards.
The court鈥檚 action, a 5-4 decision written by Neil Gorsuch with the three liberal justices and Amy Coney Barrett dissenting, once again thwarts decades of legal efforts by 黑料新闻 to force upwind states to do something about the cross-state pollution that disproportionately plagues 黑料新闻.
鈥淭his case is going to have a direct impact on the air quality of 黑料新闻 and the entire Long Island Sound region, the entire New England region,鈥� said Roger Reynolds, senior legal director for the environmental advocacy group Save the Sound. 鈥満诹闲挛� and New York are working hard to reduce emissions, but that鈥檚 being completely undermined by pollution that鈥檚 coming in through these Midwest power plants. And if we鈥檙e not able to address the pollution from the Midwest power plants, we鈥檙e never going to be able to effectively address pollution in 黑料新闻.鈥�
鈥淭his disappointing decision is a serious setback for 黑料新闻鈥檚 air quality and public health,鈥� said Attorney General William Tong in a statement. 鈥淎s Justice Barrett states in her dissent, this injunction 鈥榣eaves large swaths of upwind states free to keep contributing significantly to their downwind neighbors鈥� ozone problems for the next several years.鈥� That鈥檚 an unacceptable outcome. But our fight is not over. While the Supreme Court has temporarily paused enforcement of the Good Neighbor Provision, we will continue to aggressively pursue our ongoing litigation.鈥�
The ruling adds to the list of recent pushbacks to Biden administration environmental policies by this most conservative iteration of the Roberts court. from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. It narrowed what bodies of water can be protected under the Clean Water Act. Before this term ends, there will a major decision that many expect will significantly weaken the power of administrative agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to follow the science. On Tuesday, the court announced that next term it would take up a challenge to the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act that requires in-depth environmental reviews for federal projects.
鈥淭his is the worst three years for the environment in the Supreme Court ever, since the passage of our major environmental laws in the early 鈥�70s,鈥� Reynolds said. 鈥淭here is a clear pattern of weakening the ability of agencies, and there鈥檚 a particular focus on the EPA.鈥�
The rule at issue, known as the Good Neighbor Plan, was finalized by the Biden administration in March 2023. It ordered 23 states in the Midwest and West to reduce pollution from their power plants and industrial operations, tightening previous standards set in the Obama administration. The Trump administration took no similar action, even though to be in compliance with the Clean Air Act, it was supposed to. The Clean Air Act, in place since 1970, contains a good neighbor policy designed to keep upwind states from polluting downwind ones.
While the rule was implemented in some of the states, many states had fought the plan, resulting in a hodge-podge of court rulings that have and have not included stays of the rule. A few states that were not granted stays appealed to the Supreme Court as an emergency, and the court decided to hear the appeal to decide whether to grant the stay while the various cases continue to wind through courts.
with the Supreme Court asking it to not impose a stay.
In the meantime, 黑料新闻 is facing yet another summer of air pollution and bad air quality. Pollution emanating from the west and south of 黑料新闻 typically travels east and north on the prevailing winds and in the summer essentially 鈥渃ooks鈥� in the sun, forming ozone or smog. 黑料新闻 is its landing pad.
The EPA has noted that 鈥渟outhern Conn. experiences the highest ground-level ozone levels in the eastern half of the U.S. The ozone recorded at air quality monitors in Southwest Conn. comes almost entirely (90-95%) from out of state. 黑料新闻 cannot reach attainment with EPA鈥檚 ozone air-quality standard without upwind emission reductions from sources in States south and west of 黑料新闻.鈥�
The American Lung Association鈥檚 25th annual released late last year, found that, once again, 黑料新闻 received an F grade in four of its eight counties for high ozone levels, and that Fairfield County has the worst ozone pollution east of Texas.
For nearly half-a-century most of 黑料新闻 has registered ozone that exceeds the National Ambient Air Quality Standards set by the EPA. Right now, the southern part of the state 鈥� Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex counties 鈥� doesn鈥檛 even meet the more lenient 2008 standards. Officially, that鈥檚 called being 鈥渋n non-attainment,鈥� and those counties worsened in recent years to being in 鈥渟evere non-attainment.鈥� The entire state is in moderate non-attainment with the stricter 2015 standards. It鈥檚 anticipated that designation will worsen to 鈥渟erious.鈥�
Already this ozone season, which runs from March through September, . In the whole of last season there were 19, low for the state and nothing like the brown cloud pollution of the 1970s.
Some of what causes the state鈥檚 ozone problem is created locally, largely from transportation. The last coal-fired power plant in New England 鈥� the Merrimack Station near Concord, N.H. 鈥� is set to close in 2028.
The would have taken effect in 2026. it would have prevented some 1,300 premature deaths, avoided more than 2,300 hospital and emergency room visits, cut asthma symptoms by 1.3 million cases, avoided 430,000 school absence days and 25,000 lost workdays.
The high court is likely to see the case again as the lower court challenges continue to play out.