The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could steer certain lawsuits challenging agency actions designed to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions away from regional appeals courts favored by opponents of its actions and to a court in Washington that regularly hears regulatory disputes.

The Supreme Court agreed to take disputes surrounding the EPA that could serve as a boon to industry groups seeking to avoid certain regulatory oversight.

The court said it would hear Oklahoma's challenge to an EPA rule allowing the agency to move some lawsuits on air pollution away from regional courts.

At issue in the cases the Supreme Court granted Monday is the nationwide applicability of certain EPA rules. Under the Clean Air Act, lawsuits over agency rules that are national in scope must be filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The Supreme Court will take up a series of cases to determine which federal courts can take on cases related to certain Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) actions, it said Monday. The cases stem from two seemingly separate issues: whether Oklahoma and Utah need to come up with better plans to fight smog and whether