United States Supreme Court Upholds Cross-State Air Pollution Rule And Continues To Afford EPA Substantial Discretion To Implement Clean Air Act

On April 29, 2014, the United States Supreme Court upheld EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) in the EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P. case on appeal from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The majority held that (1) the Clean Air Act (CAA) does not command EPA to give states a second opportunity to submit a State Implementation Plan after EPA quantifies the interstate pollution obligations of the states before implementing reductions through a federal implementation plan; and (2) the CAA Good Neighbor provision does not dictate proportional allocation of emissions reductions to satisfy interstate pollution obligations.