VOX: The Supreme Court just upended the EPA’s big crackdown on mercury pollution
The Supreme Court has thrown a wrench into the EPA’s plan to crack down on mercury pollution from coal-fired plants — one of the most sweeping environmental policies of Obama’s first term.
In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the agency had not reasonably considered costs when crafting its mercury rule, which was finalized back in 2012 and would require coal-fired power plants to spend an estimated $9.6 billion per year cleaning up mercury and other toxic air pollutants.
The mercury rule will stay into effect for the time being, but the EPA will need to reconsider it in the months ahead, taking costs more fully into account. In his opinion, Scalia remanded the decision back to the DC Circuit Court with this guidance: “EPA must consider cost — including cost of compliance — before deciding whether regulation is appropriate and necessary. It will be up to the Agency to decide (as always, within the limits of reasonable interpretation) how to account for cost.”
Now, we will have to see whether the DC Circuit Court simply orders the EPA to carry out additional analyses — or decides to strike down the rule altogether.
Even if the rule does get struck down, however, the practical impact on mercury pollution may be relatively limited. Ever since the rule was finalized back in 2012, electric utilities have spent billions installing scrubbers at coal plants and retiring a number of their oldest units in order to comply. While a handful of coal plants may get a reprieve from this ruling, many of the investments in pollution control spurred by the rule have already gone forward.
