- Ohio AG Dave Yost and Kansas AG Kris Kobach have completed briefing on their emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the EPA’s “Reconsideration of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter” final rule while it is pending review before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
- The final rule includes a reduction in the annual particulate matter standard and updates the EPA’s air quality index.
- The AGs argue in their brief that the D.C. Circuit’s decision to allow the final rule to take effect pending appeal is causing irreparable harm in the form of compliance costs, likely plant closures and grid instability, and reducing states’ sovereignty by eliminating their authority to consider certain factors in the planning process. The AGs further argue that the final rule exceeds the EPA’s statutory authority and is arbitrary and capricious, among other allegations.
- We have previously reported on the petition for review with the D.C. Circuit filed by a group of 24 Republican AGs challenging the final rule, as well as the motion to intervene filed by 17 Democratic AGs to defend the rule.