US Court of Appeals rules against the EPA's Cross-State Air Pollution Rule

摘要

Coal-fired power plants in the US have been granted a temporary reprieve against new measures designed to reduce emissions and pollutions. The US Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia has rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), with a majority ruling that the EPA was exceeding its jurisdictional limits in imposing the rule. The CSAPR has been sent back for revision. The CSAPR was intended to cut SO_2 emissions by 73% and NOx emissions by 54% from 2005 levels in some 28 US states, with particular attention to limiting the effects that emissions would have on states downwind of the emitting power plants. The case was brought to the Court of Appeals by the power generation and coal industries and 15 of the affected states.