Opinion ID: 395148
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Agency and Court Proceedings

Text: 13 As a result of correspondence in 1975 and 1976 with PPG and its fuel supplier, intervenor Continental Oil Company, the EPA learned of the construction of PPG's new power plant. Upon EPA's inquiry, PPG provided detailed information on the design and construction of the power plant, along with information regarding other power generating facilities at the Lake Charles works. 14 In April 1977, after further correspondence among the parties, PPG filed a formal request under 40 C.F.R. § 60.5 (1977) 3 for an EPA determination that (1) the standards of performance do not apply to boilers which, like those at PPG's Lake Charles works, derive a substantial amount of heat from turbine exhaust gases (waste heat) and (2) the construction of PPG's new power plant was commenced prior to August 17, 1971, the date of publication of proposed standards of performance for fossil fuel-fired steam generators. PPG also asked EPA for a clarifying determination as to the application of the Subpart D standards of performance to waste heat boilers if EPA ultimately determined that the standards governed the operation of PPG's boilers. 15 In response to these three requests, the Regional Administrator of EPA's Region VI determined that PPG's waste heat boilers were subject to the new source standards of performance for fossil fuel-fired steam generators even though they burned a combination of fossil fuel and waste heat. EPA also rejected PPG's argument that construction of the waste heat boilers should be considered to have commenced before August 17, 1971, on the ground that the waste heat boilers were not ordered or constructed until after this date. 16 In response to PPG's request for a determination clarifying application of the performance standards to the waste heat boilers' output, EPA ruled that compliance with the standards would be based only on the amount of heat and combustion effluents produced by the fossil fuel burned in the waste heat boilers. The turbine generators, having been ordered prior to August 17, 1971, were not subject to the new source standards of performance. The effluents from the turbines' waste heat gasses as well as the portion of the heat input derived from this source would therefore be excluded in determining whether the steam generator plant complied with the standards. 17 The Director of the Division of Stationary Source Enforcement of EPA ultimately upheld these determinations and further ruled that since PPG had chosen low sulfur fuel rather than scrubbers as the method for meeting the performance standards, it would be required to burn such fuel at all times subsequent to the performance tests run on the boilers. He also determined that PPG was not required to install equipment for the continuous monitoring of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions as mandated by the performance standards, but that it must install and operate continuous opacity monitors in the stacks of the waste heat boilers and might also be required to monitor and report on the sulfur content of the fossil fuel burned in the boilers. 18 Thereupon PPG, uncertain of jurisdiction, filed a petition for review of the EPA determinations both in this Court and in the district court. In an earlier opinion, we dismissed the petition for lack of jurisdiction based on the view that direct review rested in the district court. PPG Industries, Inc. v. Harrison, 587 F.2d 237 (5th Cir. 1979). The Supreme Court, holding the petition was properly filed in the Court of Appeals, reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. 446 U.S. 578, 100 S.Ct. 1889, 64 L.Ed.2d 525 (1980). Accordingly, we now address the petition on its merits, after briefly setting forth the applicable standard of review.