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Announcements

January 15, 2009 - EPA Proposes to Stay CAIR and CAIR FIP for Minnesota only

On December 23, 2008, the D.C. Circuit remanded without vacatur EPA's Clean Air Interstate Rule.

Read the court decision (PDF 4pp, 22k)

On November 17, 2008, the United States filed a reply in support of its petition for rehearing (PDF) (10pp, 391k) in the Clean Air Interstate Rule case.

Current status of CAIR programs

The December 23, 2008 ruling leaves CAIR and the CAIR FIPs -- including the CAIR trading programs -- in place until EPA issues a new rule to replace CAIR in accordance with the July 11, 2008 decision. Read the court decision (PDF) (4pp, 22k). EPA informed the Court that development and finalization of a replacement rule could take about two years.

Summary of Court actions

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has ruled on petitions for review of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and CAIR Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs), including their provisions establishing the CAIR NOX annual and ozone season and SO2 trading programs. On July 11, 2008, the Court issued an opinion vacating and remanding these rules; however, parties to the litigation requested rehearing of aspects of the Court's decision, including the vacatur of the rules. On December 23, 2008, the Court granted rehearing only to the extent that it remanded the rules to EPA without vacating them.

Background on CAIR

On March 10, 2005, EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), a rule that will achieve the largest reduction in air pollution in more than a decade. CAIR will ensure that Americans continue to breathe cleaner air by dramatically reducing air pollution that moves across state boundaries. In 2015, CAIR will provide health and environmental benefits valued at more than 25 times the cost of compliance.

CAIR will permanently cap emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the eastern United States. CAIR achieves large reductions of SO2 and/or NOx emissions across 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia. When fully implemented, CAIR will reduce SO2 emissions in these states by over 70 percent and NOx emissions by over 60 percent from 2003 levels. This will result in $85 to $100 billion in health benefits and nearly $2 billion in visibility benefits per year by 2015 and will substantially reduce premature mortality in the eastern United States. The benefits will continue to grow each year with further implementation.

A closely related action is the EPA Clean Air Mercury Rule, the first ever federally-mandated requirements that coal-fired electric utilities reduce their emissions of mercury. Together the Clean Air Mercury Rule and the Clean Air Interstate Rule create a multi-pollutant strategy to reduce emissions throughout the United States.

States Covered by CAIR

Where to find more information:

Where You Live - Descriptions of the health and environmental benefits of the Clean Air Interstate Rule in each of the 28 states in the Eastern US and the District of Columbia.

Basic Information - Summary of the Clean Air Interstate Rule as well as a summary of the design of the program and the benefits it would provide.

Regulatory Actions - Links to proposed and final rules, fact sheets, and other rulemaking documents.

Charts and Tables - A collection of printable charts, tables, and graphics demonstrating the health and environmental benefits of the Clean Air Interstate Rule.

Technical Information - Technical support information and links to related information.

Implementation - Links to frequently asked questions, reports and analyses, Notice of Data Availability, and other implementation topics.

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