In 1982, the Law Center brought a suit on behalf of the Clean Air Council, the Sierra Club, and other environmental groups to force the state’s compliance. We secured a federal court order requiring Pennsylvania to institute a program for annual emissions inspections, and when the state still refused, we convinced the court to order the U.S. Department of Transportation to withhold $400 million in highway funds.

In 1983, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court sided with the state, arguing that the consent decree was invalid and that the state should not implement the emissions program, but the Third Circuit Court of Appeals strongly overruled the state court’s rulings. The emissions program was finally implemented soon thereafter.