Supreme Court appears skeptical of EPA interstate air pollution rule

The Supreme Court heard arguments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) interstate air pollution rule Wednesday, with members of the court’s liberal minority expressing skepticism about the appropriateness of hearing the case but the conservative majority seeming amenable to blocking the rule.

The “Good Neighbor” rule, which regulates downwind air pollution produced by upwind states, is the subject of a lawsuit by industry groups and the states of Indiana, Ohio and West Virginia. 

Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared skeptical of the EPA’s rationale in arguing for the rule’s overall validity when lower courts have already blocked the rule in 12 of the 23 states covered. The agency, he said, was proposing to “just kind of pretend nothing happened, just go ahead” with the rule in the remaining states...more