⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Fourth Circuit hears a challenge to EPA's approval of West Virginia's regional haze plan. The Clean Air Act aims to reduce human-caused haze that obscures views in protected national parks and wilderness areas. The plan required no additional pollution controls at the coal plants in dispute. EPA initially proposed rejecting the plan, then changed its policy and approved it. National Parks Conservation Association and Sierra Club ask the court to set that approval aside. They say EPA overlooked affordable improvements and failed to explain why previously inadequate analysis became adequate. You'll hear the uniform rate of progress, or glide path: a benchmark toward natural visibility, not a finding that the air is already clear. The four statutory factors are compliance costs, time needed, energy and non-air environmental impacts, and a facility's remaining useful life. EPA and West Virginia will defend a presumption of reasonable progress when those factors have been considered and affected areas are ahead of the glide path. Petitioners will contend that this approach unlawfully weakens the required review.

National Parks Conservation Association v. EPA (No. 25-2042) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, argued October 29, 2026.