Client Alert
Supreme Court Resurrects EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule
April 30, 2014
BY KEVIN POLONCARZ & JILL YUNG
On April 29th, the United States Supreme Court, in a 6-2 decision, reinstated EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”), which regulates emissions from upwind states that contribute to air quality problems in downwind states. The majority decision provides a strong endorsement of EPA's efforts to implement what has been a vexing provision of the Clean Air Act: the Good Neighbor Provision. In so doing, the decision should provide a strong shot in the arm to EPA, as it attempts to implement CSAPR and promulgate whatever amendments are needed at this time to salvage some of the reductions that CSAPR was designed to achieve and leverage the well-developed template reflected by CSAPR to achieve the even deeper reductions that will undoubtedly be required by forthcoming revisions to the NAAQS.