Opinion ID: 4020089
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: regulation of certain ciswi units

Text: The final CISWI Rule did not contain emission standards for burn-off ovens, cyclonic burn barrels, foundry sand reclamation units, soil treatment units, and space heaters. The Environmental Petitioners claim that the EPA unlawfully exempted these units from regulation by creating subcategories that capture only a subset of the units that the Agency is required to regulate as CISWI. The EPA, however, protests that it did not exempt these five types of units from regulation. Rather, the Agency determined that it lacked sufficient data to regulate the units at this time, and, with respect to some, it received comments suggesting the units were not CISWI.37 37 The EPA asserts that it has not made a final decision with regard to the regulation of the five units at issue here—a claim that calls into question our jurisdiction, which under the CAA is limited to “final” actions. See Portland Cement, 665 F.3d at 193 (citing 42 U.S.C. § 7607(b)). We disagree with the Agency. Because the statutory deadline for the EPA to establish emission standards for all CISWI has passed, see 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(1)(D), “the promulgated regulations must be deemed the [A]gency’s complete response in compliance with the statutory requirement[].” Hercules Inc. v. EPA, 938 F.2d 276, 282 (D.C. Cir. 1991) (internal quotation marks omitted). Accordingly, “even if [the Agency] promulgates additional . . . rules sometime in the future, petitioners’ claim that the existing final regulations are unlawful remains reviewable by this court.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, the EPA did not signal in the administrative record that it was “continu[ing] the rulemaking process” as to these five units. Portland Cement, 665 F.3d at 194 (holding that the EPA’s action 107 We agree with the Environmental Petitioners that the Agency has violated its nondiscretionary statutory duty (1) to promulgate standards with respect to cyclonic burn barrels, and (2) to determine whether the remaining four types of units fall within the statutory definition of CISWI. The CAA requires the EPA to “establish performance standards . . . for each category of solid waste incineration units” no later than November 15, 1994. See 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(1)(A), (D). The statute then defines “solid waste incineration unit” as a “distinct operating unit of any facility which combusts any solid waste material from commercial or industrial establishments or the general public.” Id. § 7429(g)(1) (emphasis added). That provision unambiguously requires the EPA to set emission standards for “any facility that combusts any commercial or industrial solid waste material at all,” subject only to the listed statutory exceptions. NRDC I, 489 F.3d at 1257-58. Because the statutory deadline to regulate these units has long passed, the EPA has “breached a nondiscretionary duty” if it has failed to promulgate standards for any facilities combusting solid waste from commercial or industrial establishments that do not fit into the listed exceptions. Sierra Club v. EPA, 992 F.2d 337, 346 (D.C. Cir. 1993); cf. id. (explaining that the “plain language” of a similar provision in RCRA “obligates the Agency to issue, by the deadline, revisions for all facilities” covered by the statute and therefore “does not contemplate partial compliance”). The Agency makes no effort to claim that cyclonic burn barrels fall outside the statutory definition for CISWI units. was not “final” under 42 U.S.C. § 7607(b) because the Agency expressly stated in its final rule that the rulemaking process remained underway). We therefore need not consider whether our conclusion regarding finality would change had it done so. 108 Nor could it—both the administrative record and the EPA’s brief make clear that cyclonic burn barrels “combust” solid waste. See 2011 Proposed CISWI Rule on Reconsideration, 76 Fed. Reg. at 80,460 (describing a cyclonic burn barrel as “a combustion device for waste materials”); No. 11-1125 EPA Br. 68 (same); see also 42 U.S.C. § 7429(g)(1) (defining “solid waste incineration unit” as a “distinct operating unit of any facility which combusts any solid waste material from commercial or industrial establishments or the general public”). Because they combust solid waste, cyclonic burn barrels clearly fall within the statutory definition of “solid waste incineration unit” and, as established above, the EPA had a nondiscretionary statutory duty to establish emission standards for all these units by 1994. We therefore conclude that the Agency violated that duty by failing to promulgate emission standards for cyclonic burn barrels. The EPA protests that it reasonably chose not to regulate cyclonic burn barrels at this time, given how little information it had on them. According to the EPA, comments revealed there were many more cyclonic burn barrels in use than originally thought, the Agency lacked data on these units, and it was “difficult, if not impossible, to test such units for the section 7429 pollutants.” No. 11-1125 EPA Br. 69. But this argument misses the point: in light of the unambiguous statutory command to promulgate numeric standards for all solid waste incineration units, the EPA had no discretion to avoid regulating any such units—even if its choice to avoid regulating these units would have been otherwise reasonable. The Agency was obligated to collect the data it needed, and Congress gave it the authority to do so. See 42 U.S.C. § 7414(a) (explaining that for the purpose of regulating solid waste combustion under section 7429, the EPA may, for example, require owners and operators of those units to 109 sample emissions, keep records, and offer other information that the Agency needs). Moreover, the Agency provides no evidence that it would be infeasible to set emission standards for these units. Instead, the EPA merely states that it “received information” that measuring emissions is difficult, “if not impossible,” but points to no comments or evidence supporting this assertion. 2011 Proposed CISWI Rule on Reconsideration, 76 Fed. Reg. at 80,460. The EPA also had a duty to determine whether the other challenged sources—burn-off ovens (including foundry sand reclamation units), soil treatment units, and space heaters— were units that “combust” solid waste. Several commenters told the Agency that these units fell within the statutory definition of CISWI, and the EPA itself initially viewed some of these units as combusting waste. See, e.g., CISWI Rule— Responses to Comments, at 74-76; 2010 Proposed CISWI Rule, 75 Fed. Reg. at 31,941. Under these circumstances, the Agency was obligated to determine whether the units in fact combust solid waste. Yet the EPA concedes it never made that determination. As we have explained, the EPA had a nondiscretionary duty to promulgate standards for all solid waste combustion units. This obligation includes the subsidiary duty to determine whether the units identified by the commenters in fact combust solid waste. Any other conclusion would allow the Agency to ignore its statutory mandate altogether by not taking the initial step of identifying such units. The CAA unambiguously requires that the Agency establish standards for all CISWI units. As a result, we grant the Environmental Petitioners’ petition for review on this issue and remand to the Agency to set emission standards for cyclonic burn barrels. The EPA must also determine whether 110 the remaining four types of units are CISWI units and, if it finds that they are, it must set standards for them as well.