Court sides with Arkansas on air pollution plan blocked by EPA

A federal appeals court blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from turning down Arkansas’s proposed plan for “good neighbor” air pollution rules.

In a single-page ruling Thursday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the EPA’s rejection of Arkansas’ plan, which is required under the Clean Air Act to ensure states’ ozone emissions do not pollute the air of other regions.

In February, Arkansas was one of 19 states whose plans the EPA rejected.

Arkansas sued the same month, with Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) saying the agency had not allowed the state to revise a four-year-old plan. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin (R) argued that the EPA both missed the November 2020 deadline to review state plans and changed the standards in the meantime.

“Today, the Eighth Circuit stayed the Biden administration’s unlawful disapproval of Arkansas’s state implementation plan (SIP) for addressing ozone emissions under the Clean Air Act,” Griffin said in a statement.

“The court’s order blocking the Biden administration’s disapproval prevents the administration from imposing a one-size-fits-all federal implementation plan (FIP) that would kill Arkansas jobs and threaten our power grid,” Griffin added. “I applaud the court’s decision today and will continue to fight against brazen and unlawful federal regulatory overreach.”

Under a 2015 EPA rule, states are forbidden from contributing to ozone pollution across state lines, while in 2022 the agency introduced new rules restricting downwind emissions from fossil fuel-based power plants.

When reached out to, an EPA spokesperson told The Hill that the agency does not comment on ongoing litigation.

In an April 28 filing, the agency’s legal team argued that the federal government’s ability to protect public health relating to interstate emissions was at stake.

“Depriving EPA of authority to address Arkansas’s sources’ harmful emissions while this litigation proceeds would harm the health and welfare of millions of people who live in areas impacted by pollution from Arkansas,” they wrote at the time.

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