Opinion ID: 78056
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: Impermissible Consideration of Alternative Methods

Text: The Sierra Club would also have us invalidate the Final Rule on the ground that the EPA impermissibly considered the utility of underground injection of waste in comparison with other disposal options. Because Congress specifically directed the EPA to analyze and compare the relative risks of these options in its 2000 Risk Assessment, consideration of that factor was not only permissible, but mandated. CE1 at 352 (Within available funds, the conferees direct EPA to conduct a relative risk assessment of deep-well injection, ocean disposal, surface discharge, and aquifer recharge of treated effluent in South Florida, in close cooperation with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and South Florida municipal water utilities.). Accordingly, there is no basis for invalidating the Final Rule on this ground. See Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n, 463 U.S. at 43, 103 S.Ct. at 2867.