(Washington) The United States Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, dealt a setback Thursday to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), by suspending the implementation of a plan to combat pollution air.
Justices at the highest court in the United States voted 5-4 to suspend implementation of a so-called “good neighbor” plan, which aims to combat air pollution that crosses from one state to another, while a dispute in lower courts is resolved.
“Enforcement of the EPA rule against the applicants should be stayed until the determination of the applicants’ requests for review in” a Washington appeals court, said the Court in its judgment.
The decision was made by a majority of five conservative justices against three progressives, joined by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The EPA says the plan will reduce smog, which is harmful to health, but can also have “economic benefits.”
But the regulations were challenged in court by three states governed by Republicans, Ohio, West Virginia and Indiana, supported by the metal and coal industry.
Under a U.S. air pollution law, states are responsible for regulating low-level ozone pollution, but the agency can reject or amend their control plans and set common standards.
“Today’s decision is not only harmful to the communities that breathe polluted air, but to democracy itself,” said Holly Bender of the Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy group. , denouncing the fact that the Court “has sided with polluters and industrialists”.
The Biden administration has sought in recent years to restore a series of air pollution standards that were rolled back by former Republican President Donald Trump.