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AF&PA Welcomes SCOTUS Ruling on Good Neighbor Ruling and Chevron Deference

WASHINGTON – The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) President and CEO Heidi Brock issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s recent decisions to stay the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Good Neighbor” plan and overturn the longstanding Chevron precedent:

“The U.S. Supreme Court rulings are significant for the U.S. pulp and paper industry. Without the stay, AF&PA members would have faced hundreds of millions in unrecoverable costs to comply with the Good Neighbor Plan while the litigation continues. 

"This rule was based on controls that were neither proven nor cost-effective, and the Supreme Court ruling affirms that position.

"Furthermore, we appreciate the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Chevron as contrary to the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act, as explained in our amicus brief with the American Farm Bureau Federation and others.

“We hope that this focus on courts’ constitutional role to interpret the law, while respecting agency expertise, will lay the foundation for sustainable regulation that withstands the test of time."

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) serves to advance public policies that foster economic growth, job creation and global competitiveness for a vital sector that makes the essential paper and packaging products Americans use every day. The U.S. forest products industry employs more than 925,000 people, largely in rural America, and is among the top 10 manufacturing sector employers in 44 states. Our industry accounts for approximately 4.7% of the total U.S. manufacturing GDP, manufacturing more than $435 billion in products annually. AF&PA member companies are significant producers and users of renewable biomass energy and are committed to making sustainable products for a sustainable future through the industry’s decades-long initiative — Better Practices, Better Planet 2030