Cleaning Upwind Air Pollution (NC)

North Carolina has one of the strongest air pollution laws in the country, but many parts of the state still suffer from unhealthy air. A chief culprit is pollution from coal-fired power plants wafting into North Carolina from upwind states.

Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from these sources contribute to the more than 1,000 deaths that occur in North Carolina each year due to exposure to power plant pollution―the ninth highest rate in the country. Cross-border pollution also worsens the haze that obscures mountain views in western North Carolina. 

Court Win Compels EPA to Take Action

On March 5, 2009, SELC secured a ruling from a federal appeals court that spurs the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to move quickly to address this issue.  The opinion compels EPA to reconsider a petition North Carolina submitted to the agency in 2004 calling for the federal government to clean up cross-border pollution plaguing the state. In 2006, EPA denied North Carolina’s petition, despite the agency’s own finding that emissions from 11 states, stretching from Alabama do Pennsylvania, were preventing North Carolina from meeting healthy air standards.

Invoking Section 126 of the Clean Air Act

North Carolina submitted its petition under Section 126 (the “good neighbor” provision) of the Clean Air Act, which gives states targeted by the petition three years to reduce power plant pollution. When it denied North Carolina’s petition in 2006, EPA said it would tackle the problem through a new regulation known as the Clean Air Interstate Rule, or CAIR. CAIR, however, wouldn’t have required full pollution reductions until 2015. In response to a separate lawsuit, a federal court struck down CAIR in 2008, although the regulation remains in place until EPA can develop a new rule to replace it. 

Our 2009 court victory provides a clear validation of Section 126, which gives states a powerful vehicle for controlling pollution from outside their borders. If North Carolina’s Section 126 petition is granted, it would result in a 76 percent reduction in sulfur dioxide (the principal source of deadly fine-particle pollution in the South) and a 70 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide (the primary source of ozone pollution in the South) from the upwind states.

States Contributing to North Carolina’s Dirty Air

States found to be contributing to North Carolina’s unhealthy air include Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.