The U.S. Supreme Court is blocking the Environmental Protection Agency’s air pollution-fighting “Good Neighbor” plan while legal challenges continue, the conservative-led court’s latest blow to federal regulations.
The justices in a 5-4 vote on Thursday rejected arguments by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states that the plan was cutting air pollution and saving lives in 11 states where it was being enforced and that the high court’s intervention was unwarranted.
The rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. It will remain on hold while the federal appeals court in Washington considers a challenge to the plan from industry and Republican-led states.
Thursday's decision could have a direct impact on air quality in Connecticut, where prevailing winds bring in out-of-state pollution from the Midwest, excaberating conditions like asthma and contributing to other health problems.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong called the court's decision "a serious setback for Connecticut's air quality and public health."
"Connecticut sits at the end of our nation’s tailpipe," Tong said in a statement. "Without strong federal regulations and responsible actions by our upwind neighbors, we will continue to inhale smog from our country’s heaviest cross-state polluters."
Ground-level ozone, which forms when industrial pollutants chemically react in the presence of sunlight, can cause respiratory problems, including asthma and chronic bronchitis. People with compromised immune systems, the elderly and children playing outdoors are particularly vulnerable.
"Connecticut and New York are working hard to reduce their own emissions, but that commitment is undermined by pollution from upwind states," said Roger Reynolds, senior legal director at Save the Sound, an environmental advocacy group.
"We cannot reach healthy air quality for our residents without addressing upwind pollution, in addition to local sources," Reynolds said.
Tong said Connecticut plans to continue litigating the issue of cross-state ozone pollution.
Writing for the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch said the states are likely to win in the end, among the factors justifying the court's decision to block the plan for now.
In dissent, Justice Amy Coney Barrett was joined by her three liberal colleagues. Barrett said she doubted the states and industry would ultimately prevail.
Yet the high court's order “leaves large swaths of upwind states free to keep contributing significantly to their downwind neighbors’ ozone problems for the next several years,” she wrote.
Connecticut Public's Patrick Skahill and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
