The Cross State Air Pollution Rule was initiated to encourage states to be better neighbors. If pollution from a coal-fired power plant in Ohio was poisoning air downwind in Connecticut, the Environmental Protection Agency would have a mechanism to reduce offending emissions.
The rule was drafted with human health in mind. Power plants create nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions that cause lung-irritating smog and acid rain in adjacent states. Cleaning up this pollution could save tens of thousands of lives annually.
Implementing the Cross State Air Pollution Rule in 28 states is estimated to cost only a fraction of the benefits it yields. On the surface, it looks like a winner. But it has been challenged by power companies, coal companies, and labor unions, among others. And this August, it was overturned by a federal appeals court.
To expedite cleaning the air, the EPA wanted to rely on a pollution credit trading system. Under this plan, two of the three judges noted that some states would be compelled to reduce emissions in excess of their downwind contributions. There was also concern that the rule conflicted with states’ rights by imposing a federal plan.
In what has become a heated debate, the dissenting judge stated that the majority decision was “based on the court’s own notions of absurdity and logic that are unsupported by a factual record, and a trampling on this court’s precedent.”
An appeal by the EPA is expected. This is the second time a cross state pollution rule has been drafted. Let’s hope the third time’s a charm. But pollution will never adhere to artificial boundaries.
Web Links
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79940.html
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/23/opinion/la-ed-epa-cross-state-pollution-20120823
Photo, taken on May 9, 2009, courtesy of Rennett Stowe via Flickr.