A federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to walk back a Biden-era crackdown on soot pollution.
In reaching its decision Friday, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also rebuffed claims by industry groups and Republican-led states that former President Joe Biden’s EPA lacked authority to issue the new particulate matter standards. The groups had argued the Biden rules were tarnished by consideration of the pollution burden shouldered by rural and minority communities.
Biden’s EPA in 2024 tightened the rules after the first Trump administration decided in 2020 to leave the standards unchanged. The D.C. Circuit heard arguments over the Biden rule in late 2024, just before President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
After the president’s inauguration, Trump’s EPA asked the D.C. Circuit to put the case on hold while it reviewed the new rule. The agency later informed the court that it intended to replace the Biden-era regulation and asked the judges to toss out the earlier version.
