SEER Essentials: Clean Air Act Basics — NAAQS, State Implementation Plans, and the Cross State Air Pollution Rule

Environmental Law Explored: A Podcast SEERies

Norman Rave, who has likely defended more EPA Clean Air regulations than any other attorney in the history of the United States Department of Justice, joins moderator Matt Oakes to discuss the interaction of National Ambient Air Quality Standards, State Implementation Plans, and the Cross State Air Pollution Rule.

In this podcast Norman Rave and Matt Oakes explain the interaction of Clean Air Act National Ambient Air Quality Standards and State Implementation Plans. These elements form the foundation of the federal Clean Air Act. We then look at these foundational elements in the context of a series of cases interpreting the Clean Air Act’s “good neighbor provision.” That provision requires upwind states to account for air emissions that contribute to air quality problems in downwind states. Norman, who spent almost a decade in private practice, and several decades in the United States Department of Justice defending EPA regulations, was one of the attorneys primarily responsible for defending EPA’s Cross State Air Pollution Rule, a rule seeking to implement the “good neighbor provision” for specific pollutants. This litigation spanned many years, resulting in several D.C. Circuit decisions and one Supreme Court decision (E.P.A. v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P., 572 U.S. 489 (2014) (upholding EPA’s interpretation of the “good neighbor provision” that mandated a cost-effective allocation of emission-reduction responsibilities).