Finally, A Good Air Day

This past Monday, April 2, was probably the best day for air quality since the passage of the 1970 Clean Air Act. Two Supreme Court decisions handed down on Monday will have long-term, far-reaching effects on the air we breathe, and a third decision in a small mountain town reaffirmed that people working together are still more powerful than wealthy corporate polluters.

First, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gas emissions—like carbon dioxide from automobiles and power plants—can and should be regulated. For the past seven years, the Bush Administration has tried to avoid controlling greenhouse gas emissions. The Supreme Court smackdown finally acknowledges the U.S. government’s responsibility to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The decision ultimately will change the way cars are built, coal-fired power plants are operated, and energy is produced in the United States.

Hours later, the Supreme Court ruled on a South-specific case brought by Southern Environmental Law Center against Charlotte-based Duke Energy. The unanimous Supreme Court decision prevents Duke Energy from continuing to operate old coal-fired power plants without installing modern pollution controls. Duke Energy’s coal-burning plants—many of which were built 40 or more years ago, and each of which emits up to 10 times more pollution than a new plant—are the nation’s single largest source of air pollution. With our heavy reliance on coal-burning plants, the Southeast is paying a particularly heavy price in terms of health and environmental problems. More appeals and court battles will follow, but this precedent-setting Supreme Court decision has placed the South—and the entire nation—on a path to cleaner air.

A third clean air decision took place on Monday—not in the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court, but in the small mountain town of Woodfin, N.C. Another coal-burning energy giant, Progress Energy, had bullied a proposal to build an oil-burning power plant past the county board of commissioners, and all it needed was the rubber stamp of the tiny outskirts town of Woodfin. Courageously, the little town stood up to the big corporation and rejected the power plant. Citizens from all political and socioeconomic backgrounds came forward to oppose the plant, fiercely defending the health of their community. Even though the county commissioners had already acquiesced to Progress Energy’s big-money back-door deal, the seven-member Woodfin board listened to the concerns of the people and unanimously voted against the power plant. It was a rare and inspiring demonstration that democracy still works, and that a small Southern mountain town can make a big difference.

—Will Harlan