High Court to Decide Major Environmental Case

ByABC News
November 7, 2000, 8:09 AM

W A S H I N G T O N, Nov. 7 -- Nationwide clean-air standards are at stake in a major environmental case that asks the Supreme Court whether thegovernment must consider compliance costs and not just healthbenefits in setting air-quality limits.

Industry groups are asking the justices to rule that theEnvironmental Protection Agency must weigh the cost of reducingharmful emissions against the benefits of improved air quality.

The Clinton administration argues that the EPA is not supposedto consider costs in setting the national air-quality standard. Thegovernment wants the justices to reverse a lower court ruling thatsaid the EPA went too far in adopting tougher clean-air standardsin 1997.

The case has profound implications for the health of theAmerican public, government lawyers said in court papers.Congress did not intend EPA to base [air-quality standards] onconsideration of any effects except those posed by the presence ofthe pollutant.

Common-Sense Standards

But lawyers for the American Trucking Associations, U.S. Chamberof Commerce and other businesses contend the government mustengage in a commonsense weighing of benefits and costs insetting the nationwide standard.

After hearing arguments today, the justices are expected toissue a ruling by July that could have a major impact on clean-airrules and possibly on regulatory actions by other federal agencies.

The Clean Air Act, adopted in 1970, requires the EPA to adoptnational air-quality standards to protect the public health.The agency is to use criteria that accurately reflect the latestscientific knowledge for identifying pollutions effects onhealth.

In 1997, the EPA adopted air standards that imposed new limitson soot and ozone, a major component of smog. They were challengedby industry groups, and a federal appeals court in Washington,D.C., blocked the EPA from enforcing the rules in May 1999.