"Biden Air Rules Face Tough 2024 in Courts After Ambitious Year"

"The Biden administration pushed through a packed clean air to-do list in 2023, shoring up against a tougher legal landscape and multiple courtroom battles that threaten to delay cornerstone air and climate plans.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory agenda for last year was ambitious: emission regulations for coal-fired power plants, methane, traveling ozone, vehicles, and particulate matter, among other major Clean Air Act programs. In a press release issued Dec. 21, the EPA touted the many clean air actions it issued in 2023, insisting that the agency “moved further and faster than ever” in its public health mission.

“After a year of significant unparalleled accomplishments, I couldn’t be prouder of EPA’s driven and dedicated workforce,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

The robust list of Clean Air Act actions promised a lot of movement in the efforts to mitigate climate emissions and move the dial for environmental justice, but litigious industries and the need for caution in a tighter legal environment slowed progress in some areas."

Jennifer Hijazi reports for Bloomberg Environment January 2, 2024.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 01/03/2024