Opinion ID: 186132
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Beyond-the-Floor Standards

Text: Finally, Sierra Club raises three objections to EPA’s beyond-the-floor standards. First, Sierra Club asserts that in deciding whether to set beyond-the-floor standards for certain pollutants — namely Hazardous Air Pollutant (HAP) metals (mercury, lead and cadmium) and dioxins — EPA 31 failed to consider ‘‘nonair quality health and environmental impacts,’’ such as the impacts of deposition, persistence and bioaccumulation, as required under 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(2). Second, Sierra Club contends EPA failed to require precombustion separation of pollutants from the waste as required by CAA § 129(a)(3), which provides that standards ‘‘shall be based on methods and technologies for removal or destruction of pollutants before, during, or after combustion.’’ 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(3). And third, Sierra Club challenges EPA’s decision to set ‘‘no-control’’ floors and beyond-the-floor standards for nitrogen oxide emissions from new and existing Class II MWC units. These no-control standards, according to Sierra Club, violate 42 U.S.C. § 7429(a)(4) and (a)(2), as well as our holding in National Lime Ass’n v. EPA, 233 F.3d 625 (D.C. Cir. 2000). In light of our remand of all of the MACT floors, we need not address these objections at this time. As Sierra Club’s counsel acknowledged at oral argument, the Agency’s beyond-the-floor determinations cannot be evaluated if, as we have concluded, the MACT floors themselves were improperly set.