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On June 27, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued an opinion that stays the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Good Neighbor” rule pertaining to cross-state pollution air-quality standards.  The opinion held that the rule would not be enforced while its challenge makes its way through the lower courts, as the Court found that petitioners will likely prevail on the merits.  Justice Gorsuch authored the opinion of the Court, with all conservative leaning justices joining except Justice Barrett.  Justice Barrett authored the dissenting opinion that was joined by the remaining justices.  

EPA finalized the “Good Neighbor” rule last year.  The rule is intended to protect states that may receive air pollution from out-of-state sources by setting stringent emissions limits for 23 states.  The rule was challenged by a number of parties, including those representing interstate natural gas pipelines.

APGA has been monitoring this rulemaking and legal challenge because of the potential impact these regulations may have on the reliability of the natural gas interstate pipeline delivery system.  While previously applicable to powerplant operators, this newest iterator of the rule would regulate emissions from gas-fired reciprocating internal combustion engines that are used the efficiently transport natural gas along pipelines across the country.  Pipeline operators have argued that the heavy compliance burden that is based on flawed data could risk reliability.  The case will now proceed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

A copy of the SCOTUS opinion is available here.

For questions on this article, please contact Renée Lani of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0836 or by email at rlani@apga.org.