The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to
hear an appeal of Texas v. EPA, in which the D.C. Circuit Court approved EPA’s greenhouse gas
(GHG) regulations. Numerous industrial organizations and states
had challenged the D.C. Court’s upholding of the Endangerment Finding, in which
EPA concluded that GHGs from mobile sources represent a danger to U.S. health
and welfare, and the Timing and Tailoring Rules, in which EPA described how it
would regulate GHGs for stationary sources under the Clean Air Act. The
two primary objections raised by industry were that EPA’s conclusion that GHGs
are a danger (and therefore a pollutant to be regulated) is unsupported
scientifically, and that EPA’s conclusion that GHGs are a pollutant under the
mobile source program should not automatically result in GHG regulations
for stationary sources under the New Source Review program.
The Supreme Court has decided
to consider only the very narrow, but very important, question of
“whether EPA permissibly determined that its regulation of greenhouse gas
emissions from new motor vehicles triggered permitting requirements under the
Clean Air Act for stationary sources that emit greenhouse gases.” EPA has taken
the position that once a pollutant is regulated under the Clean Air Act’s
mobile source rule, it is regulated under other portions of the Act as
well, including New Source Review. The Supreme Court will now tell us
whether that is correct, or whether EPA’s GHG regulations are limited to mobile sources, at least until EPA would initiate rulemaking to impose GHG limits on stationary sources.
EPA recently set GHG New Source Performance Standards for electric generators that would essentially prevent construction of new coal-fired generating plants, and is presently preparing to set GHG standards for existing sources as well. The Supreme Court decision will determine whether EPA has authority to adopt those rules.
The Supreme Court’sorder is
at http://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/101513zor_4g25.pdf
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