Environmental Advocacy Clinic Files Brief in D.C. Circuit to Support U.S. EPA’s “Good Neighbor Plan”
Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Environmental Advocacy Clinic, on behalf of four air quality scientists, has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) urging the court to uphold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) limits on interstate ozone pollution, known as the “Good Neighbor Plan.”
The Good Neighbor Plan requires upwind states to reduce air pollution originating there that travels across state lines and contributes to dangerous ozone pollution in downwind states, ensuring that all states can achieve cleaner air and meet federal ozone standards. These limits are crucial components of federal and state efforts under the Clean Air Act to protect public health, especially for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and those with preexisting health conditions. A number of upwind states, companies and industry associations have challenged the Good Neighbor Plan and related EPA actions in courts around the country, including in the D.C. Circuit.
“The Good Neighbor Plan is crucial for addressing the complex challenge of interstate air pollution and ensuring that all Americans have access to clean air," said Professor Christophe Courchesne, director of the Environmental Advocacy Clinic. “Our amicus brief highlights the robust scientific support for EPA’s approach and the necessity of upholding these important protections.”
The brief was authored by student attorneys in the Environmental Advocacy Clinic and filed on behalf of Doctors Paul Miller, the executive director of Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, Russell Dickerson, professor at the University of Maryland’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Arlene Fiore, the Peter H. Stone and Paola Malanotte Stone Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Tracey Holloway, Jeff Rudd and Jeanne Bissell Professor of Energy Analysis and Policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Department of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences. These scientists are experts on atmospheric pollution, chemistry and air quality modeling.
The amicus brief emphasizes the reliability of the models used in the Good Neighbor Plan to track interstate air transport. The amicus brief underscores that, although prior rules achieved meaningful emission reductions, downwind areas continue to face challenges in meeting air quality standards for ground-level ozone, which were tightened in 2015 to better protect public health. The Good Neighbor Plan requires further emission reductions in upwind states by utilizing a well-established and scientifically reliable methodology that ensures upwind states take responsibility for their contributions to downwind air pollution, promoting equitable air quality improvements across state lines.
The brief supports the EPA before the D.C. Circuit, which is considering consolidated petitions for review of the Good Neighbor Plan, in State of Utah, et al., v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., Case No. 23-1157 (and consolidated cases).
VLGS Environmental Advocacy Clinic student attorneys Greta Raser, Ian McDonald, Shelby Anderson and Matt Dederer authored the brief with Environmental Advocacy Clinic Director Christophe Courchesne, with assistance from student attorney Evan Kern.
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