EPA rules limiting toxic chemical emissions are being challenged in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to hear an appeal from industry groups that would challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's rules on hazardous emissions levels from power plants. The groups argue that the EPA failed to adequately consider the costs of implementing these energy standards, which they consider excessive, before putting them into practice.
The EPA policy, called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS), is designed to limit the amounts of various dangerous chemical emissions from primarily coal-powered electric plants. According to the EPA, adhering to the MATS standards beginning in 2015 – as planned – could save up to 11,000 people per year from premature deaths associated with respiratory illnesses and health problems caused by air pollution. The chemicals, including mercury, chromium, arsenic, nickel and cadmium, are known to cause birth defects and developmental issues in children as well as respiratory disease.
However, the court has decided to hear the industry groups' case on the basis that the EPA did not appropriately consider the costs to industry of implementing these changes.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia wrote that "the costs are huge, about $9.6 billion a year… by EPA's own calculation."
Even though the EPA has estimated that the eventual benefits of implementing the MATS standard will outweigh the costs 3 to 1, the decision will hinge on whether the court determines that the EPA "unreasonably refused to consider costs" when developing the new standards.
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