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1 1 (January 24, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/goveocl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: SQ Con gressionaI Rsesearch Servi e Supreme Court to Consider Request to Stay EPA's Good Neighbor Interstate Air Pollution Rule Updated January 24, 2024 On February 21, 2024, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear argument on applications to postpone implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Good Neighbor Plan, a rule addressing interstate transport of ozone pollution. The Good Neighbor Plan is intended to satisfy the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) Good Neighbor provision (42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)), which requires upwind states to ensure that their emissions do not interfere with the ability of downwind states to meet federal air-quality standards. After EPA revised the federal standards for ozone, states were required to submit updated plans showing how they would comply with the new standard. In 2023, EPA disapproved 21 of those state plans and issued the Good Neighbor Plan in their place. The Good Neighbor Plan covers 23 states, establishes an emissions trading program for power plants, and imposes requirements on certain other industrial sources. Various parties have filed lawsuits challenging EPA's disapproval of states' plans as well as the Good Neighbor Plan. While regional courts of appeals have stayed EPA's disapprovals of 12 state plans, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to stay the Good Neighbor Plan while litigation is pending. No court has issued a final ruling on the validity of EPA's state plan disapprovals or its Good Neighbor Plan, and the Supreme Court has taken the case following the stay applications and without briefing on the merits. The complicated posture of the case raises difficult questions regarding the appropriate standard for the Supreme Court to grant emergency relief and how that analysis might be affected by the partial stay of EPA's actions in the lower courts. The Clean Air Act's Good Neighbor Provision The CAA directs EPA to issue national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for several air pollutants, including ozone. Section 110 of the CAA requires states to adopt state implementation plans (SIPs) to attain or maintain each NAAQS. States must then submit their SIPs to EPA for approval. SIPs must specify what mix of federal, state, and local air pollution control measures the state will implement in order to reach or maintain the NAAQS. The CAA requires a SIP to include a long list of elements, including enforceable emission limitations, timetables for compliance, and air quality monitoring. If EPA Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB11107 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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