Washington Post: The Supreme Court makes the right call on a Clean Air Act provision

THE SUPREME Court considered two cases this term in which somewhat unclear wording in the federal Clean Air Act left sensible environmental rules open to challenge. On Tuesday, in the first case, the justices rightly sided with the sensible rules./

In Environmental Protection Agency v. EME Homer City Generation L.P., a 6-to-2 majority upheld EPA rules designed to stop groups of states from contributing harmful ozone and particulate air pollution to downwind neighbors. The agency’s “Good Neighbor” provision comes directly from the Clean Air Act, which obliges states to limit emissions that “contribute significantly” to pollution problems elsewhere. The EPA has been trying to apply that language for two decades. Its latest attempt, dating to 2011, divvies up required emissions reductions among states based on the amount each pollutes and on the cost each would have to pay to cut cross-border emissions. No state, then, would incur unnecessary and excessive costs.

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