{"id":3426,"date":"2012-04-13T17:21:30","date_gmt":"2012-04-13T22:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=3426"},"modified":"2012-04-14T10:24:35","modified_gmt":"2012-04-14T15:24:35","slug":"court-hears-oral-argument-on-cross-state-air-pollution-rule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2012\/04\/13\/court-hears-oral-argument-on-cross-state-air-pollution-rule\/","title":{"rendered":"Court Hears Oral Argument on Cross-State Air Pollution Rule"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Today, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cadc.uscourts.gov\/internet\/home.nsf\">U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C.<\/a> heard oral arguments on legal challenges to EPA\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/health\/fact-sheets\/epa-cross-state-air-pollution-rule\">Cross-State Air Pollution Rule<\/a>.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2012\/04\/12\/cross-state-goes-to-court-oral-arguments-start-tomorrow-in-lawsuits-about-clean-air-rule\/\">As I wrote yesterday<\/a>, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule reduces emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants in 28 eastern states. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">EPA issued the rule to implement the \u201cGood Neighbor\u201d provision of the Clean Air Act, which prohibits emissions from power plants in one state that contribute significantly to harmful pollution levels in other states.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The courtroom was packed this morning, as attorneys challenging and defending the rule were questioned by Judges Rogers, Griffith, and Kavanaugh. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The questioning lasted more than two hours.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Opponents of the rule were represented by two lawyers \u2013 one for states and one for power companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">EPA was represented by three attorneys from the Department of Justice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">In addition, three lawyers spoke for intervenors supporting EPA: one for governments (nine states and several cities); one for power companies supporting the rule; and one for public health and environmental organizations &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/\">including\u00a0EDF<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The court first explored one of the claims by the opponents: that EPA lacked the statutory authority to issue federal plans requiring emission reductions without first giving the states more time to submit their own proposed plans. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The opponents claimed that states couldn\u2019t submit their own plans until EPA told them the <em>exact <\/em>amount of necessary emission reductions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Judge Rogers pointed out that a similar prior rule was issued in the form of federal plans \u2013 and added that the statute doesn\u2019t say that states have to wait for EPA to act before submitting state plans.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Judge Griffith told the opponents\u2019 attorney:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-size: small\">You don\u2019t have a strong plain text argument.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">However, when <\/span>the same issue came up later in the proceeding, Judge Kavanaugh questioned EPA\u2019s counsel about whether it was practical for states to submit plans before EPA quantified the emission reduction requirements.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Another of the opponents\u2019 major claims was that EPA acted \u201cimpermissibly\u201d by: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Using an air quality impact trigger to determine which states should be covered by the rule<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Then using a cost-effectiveness measure to define the required emission reductions<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: small\">Then not going back to repeat the air quality impact analysis to see if the emission reductions would take the states below the trigger point for being covered under the rule<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\">Judge Rogers\u00a0noted that the court had accepted a similar two-part methodology in previous cases.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: small\">And both Judge Rogers and Judge Griffith questioned whether the opponents had waived this claim by failing to raise it specifically during EPA\u2019s rulemaking. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The opponents also argued that EPA had failed to sufficiently validate its air quality modeling &#8212; raising concerns about whether the required emission reductions based on that modeling were arbitrary.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">EPA\u2019s counsel responded by describing how the air quality model was extensively validated for 2005 &#8212; the most recent period with data that could be used for the purpose. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">EPA\u2019s counsel argued that it was entirely reasonable for EPA to use the validated model to make projections for later years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The opponents\u2019 counsel argued that point vigorously &#8212; comparing EPA\u2019s modeling to a car that is nice and shiny, but won\u2019t start.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">EPA\u2019s counsel won a big laugh in the courtroom with his response. He said that, after having shown that the car could drive to the 7-11, EPA was justified in believing that the car could drive a little further down the street to the Starbucks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">The judges were extremely\u00a0attentive to\u00a0what both sides had to say throughout the argument. They also asked each of the three lawyers representing EPA to briefly return to the podium a second time to address final points &#8212; after all the other attorneys had spoken for the last time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It was an intense and fascinating morning for those of us in attendance.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">Now, we all just wait for the court\u2019s decisions \u2026 most likely this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: small\">In the meantime, read more about the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/health\/fact-sheets\/epa-cross-state-air-pollution-rule\">Cross-State Air Pollution Rule<\/a>, including its effects on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/health\/fact-sheets\/epa-cross-state-air-pollution-rule\">your state<\/a>. You can also<a href=\"http:\/\/www.edf.org\/health\/cross-state-air-pollution-rule-legal-resources\"> read all the briefs filed in the case<\/a> on our website.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. heard oral arguments on legal challenges to EPA\u2019s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.\u00a0 As I wrote yesterday, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule reduces emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants in 28 eastern states. EPA issued the rule to implement the \u201cGood Neighbor\u201d provision &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7917,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4017,8,20],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean-air-act","category-health","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Court Hears Oral Argument on Cross-State Air Pollution Rule - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2012\/04\/13\/court-hears-oral-argument-on-cross-state-air-pollution-rule\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Court Hears Oral Argument on Cross-State Air Pollution Rule - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. heard oral arguments on legal challenges to EPA\u2019s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.\u00a0 As I wrote yesterday, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule reduces emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants in 28 eastern states. 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