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KERA's news coverage of environmental issues in North Texas, the state and beyond.

Environmental Group In Texas Watches SCOTUS Decision On EPA Pollution Rules

CPS Energy plant on Calaveras Lake.
Karen Fasimpaur
/
Wikimedia Commons
CPS Energy plant on Calaveras Lake.

The U.S. Supreme Court is examining whether the Environmental Protection Agency overreached its authority with its regulations on cross-state pollution, but environmental groups in Texas say the EPA is simply operating within the confines of the Clean Air Act.

United States Supreme Court Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday regarding a case that alleges the EPA overreached its authority by issuing regulations for pollution that drifts into states bordering one another.

“A lot of pollution travels across state lines,” says Luke Metzger,Director of Environment Texas, “and impacts the health of other citizens of the United States . A few years back [the EPA] proposed new standards that would require some of the biggest sources of air-pollution, dirty power plants, to control [their emissions].”

In a statement released yesterday, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott says, “the EPA’s rule will jeopardize the reliability of the Texas electrical grid, threaten jobs, and burden Texas families with higher electricity prices.”  Metzger says the EPA isn’t trying to shut down power plants, but to ensure they better control their pollution.

Metzger says, “There’s definitely air pollution control equipment, scrubbers, you can put on smokestacks to control the energy efficiency of the plant.”

The case before the Supreme Court is an appeal of a case that Texas won in front of a Washington DC federal court.   

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Ryan started his radio career in 2002 working for Austin’s News Radio KLBJ-AM as a show producer for the station's organic gardening shows. This slowly evolved into a role as the morning show producer and later as the group’s executive producer.