supreme court

Pollution in downwind states

August 26, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Air pollution is a serious health threat. It is associated with asthma and can lead to chronic disease, cancer, and premature death. Globally, air pollution kills 7 to 9 million people, and 200,000 Americans die from it each year.

There are multiple sources of air pollution including automobiles, power plants, and other industrial activities. Exposure to pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter does not require living or working near their sources. Winds can carry pollution great distances including across state lines.

The Clean Air Act included the EPA’s “Good Neighbor Plan”, which requires “upwind” states to implement plans to reduce emissions from power plants and other industrial sources. However, three states – Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia – along with various industrial companies and trade organizations sued the EPA when it tried to enforce these plans. A recent Supreme Court decision to block a federal rule curbing interstate air pollution further complicates efforts to reduce emissions.

As a result, there is a disproportionate burden on downwind states. They face major challenges in demonstrating and attributing air pollution to sources across state lines and pursuing legal actions to get the EPA to address their problems.

A recent study by the University of Notre Dame looking at all the complex issues related to interstate pollution underscored how the regulatory system continues to be hamstrung when attempting to address a serious threat to human health and the environment.

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Downwind states face disproportionate burden of air pollution

Photo, posted February 19, 2021, courtesy of David Wilson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The end of the Chevron deference

August 6, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

At the end of June, the US Supreme Court upended 40 years of legal precedent in a ruling that sharply limited the regulatory authority of federal agencies. The so-called Chevron Deference doctrine stated that when a legislative delegation to an administrative agency on a particular issue or question was not explicit but rather implicit, a court may not substitute its own interpretation of the statue for a reasonable interpretation made by the administrative agency.

Under the new ruling, courts will have more power to interpret these statutes. Environmentalists fear that this decision could lead to hundreds of rules being weakened or even eliminated, particularly Environmental Protection Agency limits on air and water pollution, regulations on toxic chemicals, and policies to tackle climate change.

Conservative political organizations have been pushing for decades to roll back the government’s regulatory powers. The new ruling creates a massive opportunity for environmental regulations to be challenged, considering the proliferation of increasingly activist, right-leaning courts. In particular, climate regulations under the Clean Air Act are more susceptible to judicial reversal. The ruling shifts the power from the agencies to the courts.

The danger of this decision is that more Americans will suffer from the worse effects of climate change, air pollution, and other environmental harms that current government regulation protect against. Any time that the Court makes it harder for the government to regulate and easier for businesses to challenge regulations, it makes it more likely that industries will injure the public and the planet in search of profits. This is basic economics in action.

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A Seismic Supreme Court Decision

Photo, posted September 17, 2020, courtesy of Thomas Hawk via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Climate change lawsuits

May 7, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

For the better part of a decade, there have been lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for their actions related to climate change. The Center for Climate Integrity, a nonprofit that provides legal support to communities suing oil companies, has tracked 32 cases filed by state attorneys general, cities, counties, and tribal nations against companies including Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell.

There has been extensive news reporting about oil companies’ efforts to undermine the scientific consensus about the climate as well as revelations about oil companies hiding their own research over decades projecting the dangers of climate change.

Oil companies have long sought to shut down the lawsuits or move them from the state courts where they were filed to federal courts where they believe national regulations could override local governments’ claims against them. But a string of circuit court and U.S. Supreme Court decisions have ruled that the cases alleging violations of state laws do belong in state courts.

The first case to reach trial will likely be a Massachusetts case against Exxon Mobil and that could happen as soon as next year.

What do these lawsuits seek? Some seek to force oil companies to pay for the past and future damages caused by climate change that are costing states and communities billions of dollars. Others seek to stop defendants from making false and misleading statements about the effects of burning fossil fuels, from greenwashing their own activities, and to fund corrective education campaigns.

The first trials could lead to a tidal wave of new cases, similar to what happened in the 1990s when tobacco companies were forced to pay billions of dollars under legal settlements.

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After a long slog, climate change lawsuits will finally put Big Oil on trial

Photo, posted August 18, 2021, courtesy of Chad Davis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The Snail Darter Is Safe | Earth Wise

November 14, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The snail darter is a three-inch-long snail-eating fish that was once only found in the Little Tennessee River. When that river was going to be dammed by the Tellico Dam under construction in the 1970s, the snail darter was listed on the endangered species list and the little fish subsequently became the subject of a legal battle that made it all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. With the dam project 95% complete in 1978, the Supreme Court blocked further construction, citing the Endangered Species Act. A year later, Congress exempted the project from the requirements of the Act, thereby clearing the way for the completion of the dam.

In order to save the snail darter, biologists transplanted the fish into several other nearby rivers and waterways. In addition, the Tennessee Valley Authority modified the operation of the Tellico Dam to release more oxygen-rich water downstream. Beyond those measures, the river cleanup under the Clean Water Act further aided the fish’s recovery.

In 1984, the snail darter was removed from the endangered species list and was listed as threatened or vulnerable. Recently, the U.S. Department of the Interior officially removed the snail darter from the federal list of threatened and endangered wildlife.

The snail darter is the fifth fish species to be delisted because its population has recovered. It is the first in the eastern United States. With better management of water releases at dams, many other imperiled aquatic species could be recovered.

Overall, more than 50 plants and animals have recovered under federal protection, including American alligators, humpback whales, peregrine falcons, and bald eagles.

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Once at Center of Controversial Case, the Snail Darter Fish Is No Longer Threatened

Photo, posted July 22, 2015, courtesy of The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Victory For Clean Water | Earth Wise

May 19, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Many of the nation’s environmental laws are under siege from the current administration, but a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has solidified the Clean Water Act’s place as one of the country’s most effective environmental laws.

The case in question was about whether a wastewater treatment plant in Maui has been violating the Clean Water Act by polluting the ocean indirectly through groundwater. Since the 1980s, the Lahaina wastewater treatment facility has been discharging millions of gallons of treated sewage each day into groundwater that reaches the waters off of Kahekili Beach, which is a popular snorkeling spot. Groundwater, like any water beneath the land’s surface, can flow into major waterways such as rivers, streams, and, in this case, the ocean.

In 2012, the nonprofit Earthjustice sued Maui county on behalf of four Maui community groups. Over the years, the Hawaii district court and the 9^th Circuit appeals court ruled in favor of Earthjustice. Last year, Maui County successfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme court to hear the case, which could have endangered the Clean Water Act.

On April 23, by a 6-3 vote, the court ruled that point source discharges to navigable waters through groundwater are regulated by the Clean Water Act when the addition of pollutants through groundwater is the functional equivalent of a direct discharge into navigable waters.

With this ruling, the Court rejected the Trump administration’s polluter-friendly position in the clearest of terms. According to the opinion, written by Justice Breyer, the Court could not see how Congress could have intended to create such a large and obvious loophole in one of the key innovations of the Clean Water Act. This is a victory for clean water.

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The Clean Water Case of the Century

Photo, posted June 30, 2018, courtesy of Kirt Edblom via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.