Environmental -- 2016



American Petroleum Institute v. EPA   (D.C. Circuit)

Challenging EPA greenhouse gas regulation (tailoring Step 3)

The NAM challenged an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) effort to interpret its authority with the “Tailoring Rule,” which attempts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources. After earlier interpretations of the rule caused absurd consequences, the EPA raised thresholds to impact only the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. The rule will impose significant administrative and cost burdens on manufacturers. The NAM argued that 1) the EPA could have adopted a more reasonable interpretation of its power so as to avoid the absurdities the rule attempts to mitigate; 2) although the EPA tried to avoid these absurd results by modifying the express statutory thresholds defining who is regulated, the action is outside of the EPA’s legal authority; and 3) as the rule is at odds with Congress’s intent when it enacted the Clean Air Act, the court must avoid agency interpretations that undermine the purpose of the law. The parties voluntarily dismissed this case in February 2016.