Polluters Urge Court To Reverse Long-Standing Clean Air Policy

The Supreme Court announced today that it would consider claims by some of the country’s largest polluters to reverse long-standing clean air policy. Since the creation of the modern Clean Air Act in 1970, limits on the amount of pollution in the ambient air have been determined by the adverse health effects it produces, such as asthma, bronchitis and other serious respiratory ailments. The Supreme Court announced today that it will determine whether costs, in addition to health effects, should govern the appropriate level of our nation’s health-based ambient air quality standards.

“For thirty years, it’s been a bedrock principle of the Clean Air Act that the amount of pollution allowed in the air should depend on how it affects the health of our children and the elderly when they breathe; medical science and public health have been paramount considerations,” said Environmental Defense senior attorney Vickie Patton. “A decision by the Court to change the long-standing clean air policy would tip the scales away from public health concerns and toward the economic concerns of major polluters.”

The Supreme Court’s decision to review this issue is part of the case involving the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) new clean air standards for smog and fine, sooty particles. On May 22, the Supreme Court decided to review a controversial lower court decision challenging the new air standards. Today’s announcement means that the Supreme Court will determine the acceptability of EPA’s new air quality standards as well as several major issues related to the criteria EPA considers in establishing the standards.