Opinion ID: 383670
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Substantive Standard Applied by EPA

Text: 9 We note at the outset that the applicable standard for reviewing this final agency action is that of § 10(e) of the APA, 5 U.S.C. § 706. A court of appeals should set aside EPA's action only if it is found to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law, or in excess of statutory ... authority, or limitations.... 10 Under section 110(a)(2)(A) of the Clean Air Act, a fundamental requirement for approval of any SIP is that it provide for the attainment of primary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) as expeditiously as practicable. 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(A). Revisions of SIPs are subject to the same substantive requirement, because § 110(a)(3)(A) authorizes the approval of any revision that meets the requirements of subsection (2). 11 Bethlehem Steel contends that § 110(a)(2)(A) compels the EPA to make a specific finding that a revision will provide for attainment of the NAAQS as expeditiously as practicable. Thus, according to its argument, it was unlawful for EPA to approve Pennsylvania's revision on the mere finding that it would not interfere with attainment and maintenance of NAAQS. 12 Essentially, this argument seeks to distinguish a standard requiring an inquiry into whether a revision will interfere with timely attainment of NAAQS from a standard mandating an affirmative finding that a particular revision will achieve expeditious attainment. Such a distinction is largely semantic, rather than substantive. If the SIP that is being revised met the attainment requirement of § 110(a)(2)(A), then any revision altering emission limitations that does not interfere with that attainment would, by definition, satisfy § 110(a)(2)(A). 13 This analysis is supported by Train v. NRDC, 421 U.S. 60, 95 S.Ct. 1470, 43 L.Ed.2d 731 (1975), in which the Supreme Court implicitly approved EPA's noninterference standard for assessing SIP revisions. The issue in Train was whether individual variances permitting delayed compliance with emission limitations could be approved as revisions under § 110(a)(3), or whether they had to be evaluated under the more rigorous standards governing plan postponements set out in § 110(f). In defending its use of the revision procedure, EPA argued that § 110(a)(3) authorized approval of variances that did not interfere with attainment or maintenance of the NAAQS. 421 U.S. at 74-75, 95 S.Ct. at 1479. Finding EPA's interpretation sufficiently reasonable to be accepted by a reviewing court, the Supreme Court approved EPA's overall construction of the Act. Id. at 87, 95 S.Ct. at 1485. The Court elaborated on EPA's duty in evaluating § 110(a)(3) revisions: 14 The judgments which the Agency must make when passing on variances under § 10(a)(3) are whether the ambient air complies with national standards, and if so whether a proposed variance would cause a plan to fail to insure maintenance of those standards.... In each instance the Agency must measure the existing level of pollution, compare it with the national standards, and determine the effect on this comparison of specified emission modifications. 15 Id. at 93, 95 S.Ct. at 1488. The Court also described this standard as a determination that a revision must not cause a SIP to fail to comply with NAAQS. Id. at 70, 95 S.Ct. at 1477. 16 In order to make a judgment as to whether a revision harms compliance efforts, or would cause a plan to fail to insure maintenance of NAAQS, the logical inquiry for the EPA is to assess whether the proposed change interferes with attainment. See e. g., Ohio Environmental Council v. U. S. EPA, 593 F.2d 24 (6th Cir. 1979), upholding EPA approval of a revision to Ohio's SIP based on the noninterference standard. 2 17 Bethlehem argues that even if Train implicitly approved a noninterference test, this standard is inappropriate here because in 1976 EPA ordered Pennsylvania to revise its SIP, determining that it was inadequate to achieve the primary NAAQS. Thus, Bethlehem reasons, the current finding that the revision does not interfere with a plan previously held to be inadequate cannot satisfy the expeditious attainment requirement in § 110(a)(2)(A). This argument is not persuasive, because EPA specifically determine that the coke oven emission regulations previously in effect were adequate, and it advised Pennsylvania that it would not have to revise that particular aspect of its SIP. 41 Fed.Reg. 28829 (July 13, 1976). It therefore follows that EPA was justified in approving the new coke oven regulations once it ascertained that they were of equal or greater stringency to the already sufficiently restrictive emission limitations. 18 The next challenge by Bethlehem to the substantive standard applied by EPA focuses on § 172 of the 1977 amendments to the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7502, which requires states in nonattainment areas to submit new SIPs that specifically restrict construction of facilities that would contribute to violations of the NAAQS. This section states that the provisions of an applicable implementation plan ... in any nonattainment area ... shall provide for attainment of each NAAQS in each such area as expeditiously as practicable. Bethlehem contends that this language imposes an obligation on EPA to make a de novo determination that any SIP revision submitted after 1977 will provide for expeditious attainment of NAAQS. It is urged that EPA failed to satisfy this duty when it applied the noninterference standard to Pennsylvania's submission. 19 The state and EPA respond to this argument by insisting that § 172 was designed to govern only comprehensive plan revisions under Part D of the 1977 amendments. When DER submitted the coke oven regulations to EPA it specifically stated that they were not envisioned as the total revision package for any nonattainment area. Area specific plans will be submitted at a later date ... as required by the 1977 Clean Air Act Amendments. Pennsylvania submitted its comprehensive Part D plan in July, 1979, 44 Fed.Reg. 43306, and EPA approved it, following the requirements of § 172, on May 20, 1980, 45 Fed.Reg. 33607. 3 20 Section 172 was designed to enable states that had failed to achieve the NAAQS by the deadline imposed in the original Act to submit a new comprehensive plan, in order to avoid the drastic consequence of closing existing facilities. 4 Thus, when Part D and § 172 speak of revised plans, they contemplate a new and complete plan replacing the original SIP, rather than the minor revisions altering or updating particular emission standards which are covered by § 110(a)(3). The conclusion that only a comprehensive, redrawn SIP must meet § 172 requirements is underscored by § 129 of the 1977 amendments, which imposes the obligation to submit a § 172 plan. Section 129(c) provides that: 21 ... each State in which there is any non-attainment area (as defined in Subpart D of the Clean Air Act) shall adopt and submit an implementation plan which meets the requirements of section 110(a)(2)(I) and subpart D of the Clean Air Act not later than January 1, 1979. (Emphasis added) (Uncodified). 22 There is no indication in either the language or the legislative history of the 1977 amendments that § 172 and Part D were intended to supersede the right of states to revise and update their particular emission standards under § 110(a)(3). In Train, the Supreme Court emphasized the importance of state discretion to set emission limitations, deeming it fundamental to the scheme of the Clean Air Act. The Court recognized that § 110(a)(3) is the mechanism by which the states may obtain approval of their developing policy choices as to the most practicable and desirable methods of restricting total emissions to a level which is consistent with the national ambient air standards. 421 U.S. at 80, 95 S.Ct. at 1482. Bethlehem's construction of § 172 is at variance with this policy of state flexibility, because its interpretation would require a state to adhere to the complex and detailed substantive and procedural requirements of Part D whenever it desired to change a particular emission standard. 23 We conclude that EPA acted within its statutory authority when it measured DER's submission against the substantive standard appropriate to § 110(a)(3) revisions, rather than against the requirements of Part D and § 172.