Court Seems Split on What Is ‘Appropriate’ in Setting Clean Air Costs

"WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed closely divided over the fate of one of the Obama administration’s most ambitious environmental initiatives.

Lawyers for industry groups and some 20 states told the justices that Environmental Protection Agency regulations that set limits on emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants from power plants had failed to take account of the punishing costs they would impose, a point that resonated with Justice Antonin Scalia.

'I would think it’s classic arbitrary and capricious agency action,' he said, 'for an agency to command something that is outrageously expensive and in which the expense vastly exceeds whatever public benefit can be achieved.' "

Adam Liptak reports for the New York Times March 25, 2015.