D.C. Circuit Hinges EPA GHG Power On 'Tailoring' Rule Foes Aim To Scrap

Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Agency/Executive Branch, Federal Litigation, Policy

July 30, 2013

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(Environmental NewsStand Climate Policy Watch) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in two recent rulings has reinforced its position that EPA had adequate Clean Air Act authority for its rule allowing it to “tailor” greenhouse gas (GHG) permits at facilities, with its decisions further solidifying the agency’s legal basis for the rule that opponents are asking the Supreme Court to overturn.
As a result, the D.C. Circuit’s 2012 ruling upholding the tailoring rule, vehicle GHG rule and other climate policies in Coalition for Responsible Regulation, et al. v. EPA, et al. could prove to be nearly as important as the Supreme Court’s 2007 holding in Massachusetts v. EPA, which found that the agency has authority under the air law to regulate GHGs — a decision that gave EPA the legal trigger for pursuing its GHG regulations.
One environmentalist attorney recently said that rulings in prior weeks by three-judge panels of the D.C. Circuit upholding EPA’s takeover of GHG permitting in Texas, and a separate decision scrapping EPA’s deferral of GHG permitting mandates for biomass facilities, suggest that most of the D.C. Circuit judges think GHG regulation “is going forward.” READ MORE

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