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American Trucking Associations and the Environmental Protection Agency will meet on Nov. 7 before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue whether EPA can set revised smog and soot standards without a detailed congressional mandate.

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A decision is expected in the spring, but the case is already taking on landmark status because the pollutants are a main focus of the Clean Air Act.

The Clean Air Act has been the environmental driver for getting industries to change their ways of operating — from requiring the installation of emission control equipment in stationary sources such as coal-fired power plants to mandating the retrofitting of heavy-duty diesel engines with pollution controls. Environmentalists support the law, citing its benefits for such sensitive populations as the elderly and asthmatics.

According to legal scholar Gary Marchant, EPA’s 1997 proposal to tighten the smog standard from 0.12 parts per million to 0.08 and require states to regulate particulate matter down to 2.5 microns in diameter would have meant more areas of unhealthy air throughout the country. It also would have meant that industry would have to spend billions of dollars to stay in compliance.

For the full story, see the Aug. 14 print edition of Transport Topics. .