The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups asked the Supreme Court on Friday to review a lower court’s decision upholding a Biden-era rule tightening national standards for soot.
What happened: The coalition filed a petition asking the high court to reverse a June decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which found that EPA had authority to issue new rules for particulate matter “off-cycle” that were more stringent than those finalized in the first Trump term.
The Biden EPA revised the so-called National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter outside of the Clean Air Act’s usual five-year review cycle. EPA under President Donald Trump had opted to keep the rules unchanged in 2020.
Why it matters: Fine particulate matter has been linked to respiratory and cardiovascular ailments and premature death. Sources of the pollution include coal-fired power plants and tailpipe exhaust. Industry groups say the agency didn’t weigh the cost of tighter standards.
The details: The petitioners, which included the National Association of Manufacturers, American Chemistry Council and National Mining Association, argued that EPA had used the “off-cycle” timing of the revision to justify skipping a “thorough review” of the science prior to the rulemaking. The agency should also have considered costs and other practical considerations, they said, before tightening the standards.
The petition notes that the NAAQS for particulate pollution has the potential to impact sectors across the economy.
“Accordingly, a single change to a NAAQS can impose enormous regulatory costs,” it states. “It can push areas across the country out of compliance; force states to devise multiple, stringent, and complex state regulatory regimes … and immediately impose stricter permitting requirements for all manner of construction in much of the country.”
NAM’s chief legal officer Linda Kelly said the rule could make it harder for manufacturers to “obtain permits, expand operations, modernize facilities and invest in communities across the country.”
The D.C. Circuit heard arguments over the Biden rule in late 2024, before President Donald Trump returned to the White House. After the change in administration, the Trump administration asked the court to put the case on hold while it reviewed the Biden standards. It later informed the D.C. Circuit that it planned to repeal and replace the standards, but the court declined to hold off.
What’s next: Over the coming months, the court will add cases to its calendar. Four justices must vote to grant a petition.