The Supreme Court sides with polluters again
The Supreme Court made a ruling that allows states who are challenging clean air regulations to take their cases to various district courts rather than the DC circuit which had been the case for decades
“This Supreme Court seems determined to undermine the nation’s bedrock environmental laws, and unfortunately they have continued that pattern with this ruling. Common sense and the public good should be part of the legal equation and this ruling defies both,” UPHE’s Dr. Brian Moench, told Fox13 on the court update. “It is also regrettable that the state of Utah is once again an eager litigant in many of these attempts to make it easier for dirty energy industries to increase the pollution that is harming Utahns along the Wasatch Front and throughout the state.”
Historically the DC circuit court has been a more progressive, environmentally friendly court, and whose legal gravitas has always been right after the Supreme Court. Allowing states to file in their preferred regional courts, many of which are stacked with anti-regulation, industry-friendly judges, makes it easier for polluters and the politicians who enable them to weaken the very rules meant to protect our air, water, and health. Put simply, this ruling is another gift to the fossil fuel industry and to states that are hostile to environmental protection. Utah had joined Oklahoma in filing the case before the Supreme Court.
Utah’s air is already among the dirtiest in the nation. From the Wasatch Front to Uintah Basin, the impacts of ozone, PM2.5, and other dangerous pollutants are contributing to respiratory illness, heart disease, premature births, and countless other public health crises. Yet, instead of leading the fight to clean up our air, our state officials continue doing everything they can to prop up the dirty energy industries responsible for making Utahns sick.
Common sense and the public good should be part of the legal equation and this ruling defies both.
The headline in this story from Fox 13 reads, “US Supreme Court sides with Utah in air quality case,” but it should read, “US Supreme Court sides with Utah lawmakers and against the people of Utah.”
The Supreme Court also recently severely limited the scope of the nation’s landmark environmental law, NEPA, in a case that could give new life to Utah’s much opposed oil train project out of the Uinta Basin.