Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/23pdf/23a349_0813.pdf
Page Number: 7

4 

OHIO v. EPA 

Opinion of the Court 

of the States that did submit SIPs said that they need not 
adopt emissions-control measures to comply with the Good 
Neighbor Provision because, among other things, they were 
not linked to downwind air-quality problems or they could 
identify no additional cost-effective methods of controlling 
the emissions beyond those they were currently employing.  
See, e.g., 87 Fed. Reg. 9798, 9810 (2022); 87 Fed. Reg. 9545, 
9552  (2022);  see  generally  88  Fed.  Reg.  9336,  9354–9361 
(2023). 
  For  over  two  years,  EPA  did  not  act  on  the  SIPs  it  re-
ceived.    See,  e.g.,  87  Fed.  Reg.  9838,  9845–9851  (2022).  
Then, in February 2022, the agency announced its intention 
to disapprove 19 of them on the ground that the States sub-
mitting them had failed to address adequately their obliga-
tions under the Good Neighbor Provision.1  A few months 
later,  the  agency  proposed  disapproving  four  more  SIPs.2  
Pursuant to the Act, the agency issued its proposed SIP dis-
approvals for public comment before finalizing them.  See 
§7607(d)(3). 

C 
  During that public comment period, the agency proposed 
a  single  FIP  to  bind  all  23  States.3    87  Fed.  Reg.  20036, 
20038  (2022).    Rather  than  continue  to  encourage  “ ‘flexi-

—————— 

1 See 87 Fed. Reg. 9463 (2022) (Maryland); 87 Fed. Reg. 9484 (2022) 
(New York, New Jersey); 87 Fed. Reg. 9498 (2022) (Kentucky); 87 Fed. 
Reg. 9516 (2022) (West Virginia); 87 Fed. Reg. 9533 (2022) (Missouri); 87 
Fed. Reg. 9545 (2022) (Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee); 87 Fed. Reg. 
9838 (2022) (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin); 87 
Fed. Reg. 9878 (2022) (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas). 

2 See 87 Fed. Reg. 31443 (California); 87 Fed. Reg. 31470 (2022) (Utah); 
87  Fed.  Reg.  31485  (2022)  (Nevada);  87  Fed.  Reg.  31495  (2022)  (Wyo-
ming). 

3 EPA also added three more States:  Pennsylvania and Virginia, which 
had not submitted SIPs, and Delaware, whose SIP, EPA said, it had ap-
proved in “error.”  87 Fed. Reg. 20036, 20038 (2022).