Victory for Millions as High Court Rules Against Cross-State Pollution

In what is being hailed as a major victory for public health, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate cross-state air emissions from polluting factories and power plants.

In a 6-2 decision, the Court upheld the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, commonly known as the Transport Rule, which required 28 eastern states to reduce power-plant emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), which often form smog and worsens air quality across state lines.

“Air pollution is transient, heedless of state boundaries,” wrote Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who delivered the opinion for the Court. “Left unregulated, the emitting or upwind State reaps the benefits of the economic activity causing the pollution without bearing all the costs.”

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After being adopted by the EPA in 2011, power companies and several states sued to block the rule from taking effect and in 2012 a federal court ruled to invalidate the rule.