Environmental -- 2006



South Coast Air Quality Management District v. EPA   (D.C. Circuit)

8-hour ozone Phase I Implementation Rule (Consolidated with American Lung Assn. v. EPA)

The NAM is part of a joint industry effort to support the Environmental Protection Agency’s 8-Hour Ozone Phase I Implementation Rule. Since enactment of the Clean Air Act in 1990, EPA has been working to implement provisions that establish ozone control requirements and deadlines for compliance. First it established a standard based on a 1-hour measurement system, with 5 classifications of violations (marginal, moderate, serious, severe or extreme). In 1997, EPA replaced the 1-hour standard with a more stringent standard with an 8-hour averaging time, and, after court challenges that went to the Supreme Court, again modified the regulation to provide different compliance timetables depending on the levels of ozone in a particular area.

The State of Ohio sued to delay the 8-hour standard and to force EPA to adopt more reasonable deadlines. It feared that implementation will require the “depopulation strategy,” whereby all local industry must shut down and all local vehicle traffic must be stopped in the Cleveland-Akron area. The Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce sued to eliminate enforcement under the old 1-hour standard. The American Lung Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council and others, sued to force the use of specific timetables for implementation and to prevent companies from backsliding from the old standard. The NAM and other industry groups intervened in these suits to generally support the EPA’s latest efforts.

Our brief argued that the EPA’s balance of compliance requirements involving either the old 1-hour standard or the tougher 8-hour standard is valid. Nothing in the Clean Air Act requires old standards to remain in effect in perpetuity. Since the old standard was revoked, penalties should not continue to be assessed under that system. We supported EPA’s determination that an area subject to the 8-hour measuring standard should be subject only that the new classification system that goes with it.

On December 22, 2006, the D.C. Circuit vacated the rule and remanded the matter to EPA for further proceedings. The court upheld EPA's decision to revoke the 1-hour ozone standard, but imposed substantial restraints. It struck down EPA's decision classifying nonattainment areas under the generally less demanding Subpart 1 (of Part D of Title I), instead ruling that areas with 8-hour "design values" (the measured concentration of ground-level ozone) above .09 ppm must be classified under Subpart 2. It called EPA's decision to apply only Subpart 1 requirements to areas with 8-hour design values between .08 ppm and .09 ppm unreasonable. In addition, EPA's rules were designed to prevent "backsliding" by regulated industries, and the D.C. Circuit ruled that several requirements continue to apply (such as New Source Review requirements, section 185 emission fees, contingency plans for failure to improve, and local transportation planning restraints).

Until further word from EPA, the new 8-hour designation/classification system was vacated, but the designations/classifications themselves were in a separate rule that was not vacated. Thus, those designations and classifications apparently remain in effect, with State Implementation Plans due in June. In addition, the anti-backsliding provisions under the 1-hour rule are still in effect.

On March 22, 2007, the NAM joined with other organizations in a petition for rehearing. We argued that the court's decision expands EPA's Section 172(e) authority to prevent companies from backsliding on ozone pollution limits. We argued that the backsliding provision applies only if air quality standards are relaxed, and the EPA in fact issued revised standards that are more stringent. In addition, existing case precedent requires that courts defer to EPA interpretations that are reasonable. The court's decision second-guessed the EPA's interpretation, and conflicts with that of another federal appeals court. The petition for rehearing was denied 6/8/2007.