Utah Goes to Supreme Court as State Defends its Right to Make its Own Policies

Today, Utah was before the U.S. Supreme Court for oral arguments in the case Oklahoma v. EPA.  

Utah had challenged the Biden-era EPA over its rejection of Utah’s plan to comply with the Good Neighbor Rule, a regulation about states’ potential impact on each other’s air quality. The state had worked with the EPA to develop its state implementation plan and sued the EPA because the agency’s denial of Utah’s plan was arbitrary and capricious. When the data is examined in proper context, Utah does not significantly contribute to any other state’s air quality.  

Oklahoma also challenged the Biden-era EPA over the rejection of its plan.  

It’s important that Utah is able to make its own decisions about how to best manage its air quality in compliance with standards. The people who live here are invested in this and Utah believes it should have the authority to create and implement policies in this area.  

The question before the court today was whether these challenges to the EPA’s rejection of Utah and Oklahoma plans should be heard in the Tenth Circuit Court, the regional federal circuit court for both these states, or in the D.C. Circuit Court.  

“The Clean Air Act was intended to protect our air, not shut down our economy. Unfortunately, the Biden administration EPA decided to pursue policies that ignore local concerns and does little to nothing to clean air here or in Colorado,” said Attorney General Derek Brown. “Today’s oral arguments were an important part of the process by which Utah defends its right to make its own policies. I am pleased with the case we argued today. Utah’s case should be heard close to home, in the Tenth Circuit.” 

The state of Utah is also grateful to Oklahoma’s legal team for their hard work preparing for arguments today and is proud of our Solicitor General and Utah’s legal team for representing our state well in briefing and argument preparations.