Court Backs EPA on Clean Air Act, Cross State Pollution Regulation | New Republic:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a key decision, written by Ginsburg, upholding a regulation called the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.
The “good neighbor rule,” as it’s come to be known, seeks to address
air pollution that travels hundreds of miles away from its original
source—say, from Ohio to New England—by
requiring about 1,000 aging coal plans in 28 states to cut the harmful
pollutants that create soot and smog. The Environmental Protection
Agency administers the regulation, using authority it has from the 1972
Clean Air Act.
The
ruling was a rebuke to the fossil fuel industry, which has fought these
regulations, and to a lower federal court, which in 2012 rejected them
as unconstitutional. It did not appear to be a close call. Chief Justice
John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the decision, giving it
the imprimatur of a six-justice majority. Justices Antonin Scalia and
Clarence Thomas dissented, suggesting the pollution control scheme
verged on Marxism. (Justice Samuel Alito recused himself, presumably
because of a conflict of interest.)