SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Last week, a federal judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied the Motion to Stay in Utah v. EPA, which sought to stop the job-killing final rule for the Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) regulations – otherwise known as the “Good Neighbor Plan.” Utah will not be affected by the recent EPA decision to deny this motion for two reasons:
First, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has already stayed the EPA’s denial of Utah’s proposed State Implementation Plan and stayed the EPA’s enactment of the FIP pending Utah’s legal challenges to EPA’s decisions.
Second, the EPA itself is issuing an interim final rule staying the FIP execution.
The State of Utah communicated to the Court that it did not identify any emission reduction measures because the state was not significantly contributing to ozone levels in any neighboring state. In fact, Utah’s nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions decreased by 37% from 2011 to 2017. This result is due to our state’s commitment to being environmentally responsible, realizing we are surrounded by other states that have their own unique challenges in this arena.
