Opinion ID: 78150
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Bowen and Scherer Plants

Text: For many years, the Bowen and Scherer plants have considered themselves exempt from clean air requirements used to prevent the significant deterioration of air quality. In 1999, however, the EPA issued a violation notice to Georgia Power because it found the Bowen and Scherer plants were operating in violation of PSD requirements. See S. Servs. Co., Notice of Violation, EPA-CAA-2000-04-0006 (Nov. 2, 1999). Specifically, it alleged Georgia Power constructed two new steam emission units at the Scherer plant without a permit; at Bowen, it alleged numerous modifications had been made to the plant's boiler, including the replacement and redesign of an economizer in 1992, without obtaining a permit. Id. at 8-11. The EPA believed these acts constituted major modifications under the Act and had triggered the application of PSD requirements to the plants. The EPA's violation notice announced Georgia Power had violated and continue[s] to violate the Clean Air Act. Id. at 8, 11. When Georgia Power did not correct the violations, the United States, on behalf of the EPA, filed an enforcement action in the Northern District of Georgia seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief against Georgia Power. See United States v. Ga. Power Co., No. 1:99-CV-2859-JEC (N.D. Ga. filed Nov. 3, 1999). [1] The allegations in the complaint mirrored the PSD violations listed in the EPA-issued violation notice. Georgia Power responded by denying the allegations and asserting affirmative defenses: it denied wrongdoing at Scherer on the ground that it commenced construction of the units in 1974, and therefore the units were grandfathered out of PSD requirements; at Bowen, it argued the modifications had not resulted in significant net emissions increases and disputed the EPA's methodology for calculating those emissions. The district court administratively closed the case in 2001, pending a potentially-relevant decision from a multi-district litigation panel. In 2002, the court denied without prejudice a motion by the United States to reopen the case. Since that time the United States has not attempted to reopen, and currently expresses no intent, one way or the other, about seeking to reopen the case. (Respondent's Br. 53 n.11.) In 2004, Georgia Power applied to Georgia's state permitting authority, EPD, to renew its Title V operating permits for the Bowen and Scherer plants. It submitted applications without including PSD requirements because the company does not believe PSD requirements have been triggered at the plants. EPA Order at 5. In turn, EPD issued draft renewal permits without PSD requirements. Petitioners protested the PSD omissions during the public comment period, but EPD issued the proposed permits without the requested modifications. The proposed permits were submitted to the EPA, which did not object, and final permits were issued to Georgia Power without PSD requirements. Petitioners filed a timely petition with the EPA Administrator seeking to force him to object to the Bowen and Scherer permits on the ground that they lacked PSD requirements and corresponding compliance schedules. The Administrator denied the petition; he acknowledged he was required to object to a permit if the petitioner demonstrates ... that the permit is not in compliance with the requirements of [the Clean Air Act]. EPA Order at 6 (quoting 42 U.S.C § 7661d(b)(2)). He also acknowledged that the EPA had issued a violation notice to Georgia Power and filed a related civil enforcement action; however, he noted Petitioners offered no other evidence that the permits were required to contain PSD limits. The Administrator concluded the Petitioners had not demonstrated the permits were out of compliance with the Act because a violation notice and a complaint are merely initial steps in the process of determining whether the source is in violation of any [Clean Air Act] requirements, and do not definitively establish PSD requirements apply to the Bowen and Scherer plants. Id. at 7. As relevant factors in his decision, the Administrator explained Georgia Power had contested the PSD issue, and he noted the potential for conflicts between the civil enforcement action the EPA had already filed in federal court and future actions that would likely result from an objection to the permits. Id. at 7-8. Under the circumstances, he denied the petition, concluding the EPA was entitled to exercise its discretion in not objecting to the permits because Petitioner has not sufficiently demonstrated to the Administrator that the permits are out of compliance with the Act. Id. at 5. Sierra Club and the Coosa River Basin Initiative petition this Court for review of the agency order. They maintain the Bowen and Scherer permits are required to contain PSD requirements and corresponding compliance schedules with enforceable remedial measures. They argue the Administrator does not have discretion to refuse to object when the agency has already made administrative findings resulting in a violation notice and the filing of a complaint. The EPA, on the other hand, argues the Administrator offered a reasonable interpretation of 42 U.S.C. § 7661d(b)(2), and this interpretation is entitled to deference. Three entities sought and were granted permission to intervene on behalf of the EPA in this appeal: Georgia Power Company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation (partial owner of the Scherer plant), and EPD (Georgia's permitting authority).