Opinion ID: 187215
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: 2015 Compliance Deadline

Text: North Carolina argues that the 2015 deadline for upwind states to eliminate their significant contribution to downwind nonattainment ignores the plain language of section 110(a)(2)(D)(i), 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i), contradicts EPA's goal of balanc[ing] the burden for achieving attainment between regional-scale and local-scale control programs, CAIR, 70 Fed.Reg. at 25,166, violates the Supreme Court's holding that EPA may not consider economic and technological infeasibility when approving a SIP, Union Elec. Co. v. EPA, 427 U.S. 246, 96 S.Ct. 2518, 49 L.Ed.2d 474 (1976), and departs from the contrary approach it took in the NOx SIP Call without explanation, NOx SIP Call, 63 Fed.Reg. at 57,449. North Carolina challenges the 2015 Phase Two deadline for upwind states to come into compliance with CAIR as incompatible with section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I)'s mandate that SIPs contain adequate provisions prohibiting significant contributions to nonattainment consistent with the provisions of [Title I]. 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i)(I). Title I dictates the deadlines for states to attain particular NAAQS. PM2.5 attainment must be achieved as expeditiously as practicable, but no later than 5 years from the date such area was designated nonattainment... except that the Administrator may extend the attainment date ... for a period no greater than 10 years from the date of designation as nonattainment.... 42 U.S.C. § 7502(a)(2)(A). North Carolina, along with the rest of the CAIR states, must meet PM2.5 NAAQS by 2010. See 40 C.F.R. § 81.301 et seq. Ozone nonattainment areas must attain permissible levels of ozone as expeditiously as practicable, but no later than the assigned date in the table the statute provides. 42 U.S.C. § 7511. North Carolina's statutory deadline is June 2010, but it could be even sooner if EPA upon repromulgating its regulations sets an earlier deadline. See S. Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. v. EPA, 472 F.3d 882 (D.C.Cir.2006). North Carolina argues that despite the statutory mandate that section 110(a)(2)(D)(i), 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i), be consistent with the rest of Title I, which requires compliance with PM2.5 and ozone NAAQS by 2010, CAIR gives states that contribute significantly to nonattainment until 2015 to comply based solely on reasons of feasibility. CAIR, 70 Fed.Reg. at 25,177; see also Corrected Response, at 58, 61; CAIR, 70 Fed.Reg. at 25,222-25 (citing feasibility restraints such as the difficulty of securing project financing and the limited amount of specialized boilermaker labor to install controls). EPA contends that the phrase consistent with the provisions of [Title I] does not require incorporating Title I's NAAQS attainment deadlines into CAIR. It argues that section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) does not mandate any particular time frame and that the language about consistency only requires EPA to make a rule consistent with procedural provisions in Title I, not substantive ones. It comes to this conclusion because the phrase consistent with the provisions of this title follows the word prohibiting. Due to this placement, EPA argues that the phrase requiring consistency only modifies the word prohibiting. EPA does not explain how it jumps from this observation to the conclusion that a phrase modifying the word prohibiting can only refer to procedural requirements. The word procedural is simply not in the statute. If there were any ambiguity as to Congress's intent in excluding the limiting language EPA proposes, an examination of the relevant language in the context of the whole CAA dispels any doubts as to its meaning. In the CAA, Congress differentiates between requiring consistency with provisions in a title and requiring consistency with the procedures established under a title. Compare 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i), with id. § 7661b(c) (emphasis added). Section 110(a)(2)(D)(i), 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i), is not limited to procedural provisions in Title I; thus it requires EPA to consider all provisions in Title I  both procedural and substantive  and to formulate a rule that is consistent with them. Despite section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)'s requirement that prohibitions on upwind contributions to downwind nonattainment be consistent with the provisions of [Title I], EPA did not make any effort to harmonize CAIR's Phase Two deadline for upwind contributors to eliminate their significant contribution with the attainment deadlines for downwind areas. 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D)(i). As a result, downwind nonattainment areas must attain NAAQS for ozone and PM2.5 without the elimination of upwind states' significant contribution to downwind nonattainment, forcing downwind areas to make greater reductions than section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) requires. Because EPA ignored its statutory mandate to promulgate CAIR consistent with the provisions in Title I mandating compliance deadlines for downwind states in 2010, we grant North Carolina's petition challenging the 2015 Phase Two deadline. We need not address petitioner's other arguments against this provision. EPA justified the deadline partly on the basis that additional reductions will be required through the year 2015 in order to satisfy the interfere with maintenance provision of the statute. Although this may be a valid reason to require maintenance-based emissions reductions beyond the year 2010, EPA does not explain why it did not coordinate the final CAIR deadline to provide a sufficient level of protection to downwind states projected to be in nonattainment as of 2010.