The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear several different environmental cases this week, one brought by Arizona about the state’s plans for cleaner air.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved a state plan meant to lower air pollution around Maricopa County.
But Sierra Club Grand Canyon chapter Director Sandy Bahr challenged the approval in court, saying those contingency measures had already been put in place.
The measures included stabilizing dirt roads and lowering speed limits to keep dust down.
“I want to breathe clean air, and I want the people who live around me, my neighbors to breathe clean air too," Bahr said about filing the lawsuit. "So it basically increases the opportunity to achieve compliance and ensure the contingency measures are truly contingency measures.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Bahr and said contingency measures have to take place in the future, according to the Clean Air Act.
Arizona petitioned the Supreme Court, fighting that ruling, and the Supreme Court declined to hear it; a win for Bahr.
