Congress Cancels EPA Rule on West Virginia’s Regional Haze Plan, Halting Air Quality Measures

This Joint Resolution is a straight-up procedural move by Congress to hit the 'undo' button on a specific Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule. The rule in question dealt with West Virginia’s plan for controlling “regional haze”—that’s the widespread smog that reduces visibility across large areas, often caused by fine particulate matter from industrial sources. By passing this resolution, Congress is formally invoking its oversight power to disapprove the EPA’s acceptance of West Virginia’s air quality strategy for the second round of required clean-up efforts, effectively wiping the rule off the books immediately.

The Administrative Reset Button

Think of this as Congress using the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to veto a regulation. When Congress disapproves a rule like this, it means the EPA’s decision to approve West Virginia’s plan—which was published in the Federal Register—is now legally null and void. For the industries and power plants that were preparing to comply with the EPA-approved plan, this means they are temporarily off the hook for those specific requirements. The immediate effect is regulatory uncertainty: the state still needs an approved plan to reduce haze, but the one the EPA signed off on is now gone.

Who Feels the Change?

This move primarily impacts two groups: the EPA and residents in the affected region. For the EPA, this is a setback in its administrative process; it now has to go back to the drawing board with West Virginia to figure out a new, acceptable plan to meet federal clean air standards. For people living in West Virginia and surrounding states, this means the specific measures intended to clean up the air and improve visibility—measures that might have required upgrades or changes from local industries—are now delayed or perhaps permanently scrapped. While the underlying legal requirement to reduce regional haze remains, the specific path to get there has been blocked.

What’s Next for Air Quality?

This resolution doesn't eliminate the need for West Virginia to comply with the Clean Air Act’s regional haze requirements; it just rejects the specific plan the EPA had accepted. The practical challenge is that this disapproval creates a regulatory gap. Without the EPA-approved plan, the state needs to quickly develop an alternative strategy that both satisfies federal requirements and passes muster with Congress, or the EPA will eventually have to step in with a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). Until a new plan is in place, the specific industrial controls and emissions reductions outlined in the canceled rule won't be implemented, potentially slowing down air quality improvements across the region.