Opinion ID: 3180012
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Arizona’s procedural claim

Text: Before addressing Petitioners’ substantive arguments, we address Arizona’s procedural argument. Arizona maintains that, in acting only on the BART determinations when it promulgated the Final Rule, deferring action on the rest of the SIP, EPA “misconstrued its statutory authority and acted in an arbitrary fashion.” Specifically, Arizona contends that EPA cannot properly evaluate BART determinations separately from the broader reasonable progress analysis, because BART determinations are just one aspect of achieving Section 169A’s overall “reasonable progress” to the natural visibility goal. 42 U.S.C. § 7491(b)(2). That is not so. There is no requirement that EPA approve or disapprove a SIP submittal in a single action. To the contrary, the Act expressly permits EPA to approve or disapprove a SIP “in part.” 42 U.S.C. § 7410(c)(1), (k)(3); see also Ass’n of Irritated Residents v. EPA, 423 F.3d 989, 997 (9th Cir. 2005). 24 ARIZONA EX REL. DARWIN V. USEPA The EPA rule partially disapproving a regional haze SIP which was recently upheld by Oklahoma, 723 F.3d at 1206, for example, “t[ook] no action on whether Oklahoma has satisfied the reasonable progress requirements.” 76 Fed. Reg. 81,728, 81,730 (Dec. 28, 2011). Under the Haze Regulations, SIPs must contain reasonable progress goals, 40 C.F.R. § 51.308(d)(1), as well as source-specific BART determinations, id. § 51.308(e)(1).12 Of course, the implementation of the BART determinations will ultimately contribute toward meeting the reasonable progress goals. But the Act sets out standards for BART that are freestanding, source-by-source, and not dependent on the long term visibility goals identified. EPA did not act arbitrarily by considering Arizona’s BART determinations separately from the State’s reasonable progress analysis.