To be fair, the states are effectively countries that have joined a federation (similar to the EU). The power is supposed to be primarily at the local level, the federations primary goal is collective bargaining and protection.
Pollution may make sense to regular here, but the states / federation needs to have a large majority agree (>60%). You can't have an unelected group of bureaucrats from the EPA dictating that a large number of states can't make money, for instance.
