Republican-run states and industry challengers are pillorying EPA’s effort to revisit a smog-control plan blocked earlier this summer by the Supreme Court, arguing that the move comes too late and is barred by the Clean Air Act.
“EPA apparently did not get the message,” the challengers told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit late last week in response to the agency’s motion for a partial remand of the “good neighbor” rule.
The high court has already closed that door, the challengers added, with its June decision that cites the act in holding that judges can’t consult “explanations and information offered after the rule’s promulgation.” Instead, the challengers wrote, the D.C. Circuit should throw out the rule “and require EPA to start from scratch.”
In the 5-4 Supreme Court ruling, the majority said that EPA had failed to satisfactorily explain how the regulations would work after other judicial rulings halted implementation in more than half of the 23 states originally covered.
