Federal judges have dealt another setback to the sagging fortunes of a Biden-era smog control plan.
In an order issued late Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit called off oral arguments scheduled for April 25 in the sprawling legal battle over the “good neighbor” regulations released in 2023 and put further proceedings on hold.
The court had earlier this year denied an EPA bid to pause the case; its about-face followed the Trump administration’s decision to revisit — and possibly rewrite — the regulations as part of a broader attack on an array of rules.
The 2023 rule was designed to foster nationwide compliance with EPA’s latest ground-level ozone standard of 70 parts per billion. With this year’s summertime ozone season set to start in May, the court’s order represents a blow to the extent that it will keep the rule’s industrial emission control requirements from going into effect by that point, said Victor Flatt, a professor at Case Western Reserve University law school.
