Opinion ID: 717461
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: conformity with promised sip revisions

Text: 50 The EPA's general conformity rule permits an agency to approve an activity when it conforms not with the SIP currently in place but with the SIP as it will be when the state carries out a commitment to revise it; in other words, the regulation permits a state to change its SIP to accommodate a federal action, as long as the state complies with certain safeguards intended to ensure that the revision is actually forthcoming. See 40 C.F.R. § 51.858(a)(5)(i)(B). EDF argues that this provision is contrary to the Congress's command that federally supported activities conform to an implementation plan after it has been approved or promulgated under section 7410 of this title. 42 U.S.C. § 7506(c)(1). 51 EDF did not present this argument during the rulemaking proceedings. The provision at issue, however, was not included in the proposed rule, so EDF would have had to present its argument, if at all, in a petition for reconsideration. Because the Clean Air Act, unlike some others, does not require exhaustion of all available remedies, compare, e.g., National Labor Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. § 160(e) with Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7607(b)(1), EDF's failure to bring a petition for reconsideration does not preclude our hearing its argument. Cf. Darby v. Cisneros, 509 U.S. 137, 152-54, 113 S.Ct. 2539, 2548, 125 L.Ed.2d 113 (1993) (holding § 10(c) of APA, similar in substance to Clean Air Act, precludes court from requiring litigants to exhaust optional appeals); Ciba-Geigy Corp. v. EPA, 46 F.3d 1208, 1210 n. 2 (D.C.Cir.1995). Although in a more fact-intensive case we might invoke the prudential doctrine of ripeness and remand to the agency an issue raised here in the first instance, see, e.g., Ciba-Geigy, 46 F.3d at 1210, we do not think that is necessary in this case. 52 The plain meaning, if there is one, controls our interpretation of a statute except in the 'rare cases [in which] the literal application of a statute will produce a result demonstrably at odds with the intentions of its drafters.'  United States v. Ron Pair Enterprises, Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 242, 109 S.Ct. 1026, 1031, 103 L.Ed.2d 290 (1989) (quoting Griffin v. Oceanic Contractors, Inc., 458 U.S. 564, 571, 102 S.Ct. 3245, 3250, 73 L.Ed.2d 973 (1982)). This is one of those rare cases. This case requires a more flexible, purpose-oriented interpretation if we are to avoid absurd or futile results. Alabama Power v. Costle, 636 F.2d 323, 360 n. 89 (D.C.Cir.1979) (quoting United States v. American Trucking Ass'ns, 310 U.S. 534, 543, 60 S.Ct. 1059, 1064, 84 L.Ed. 1345 (1940)). 53 Section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act was adopted as one part of a larger regulatory program through which federal and state governments work together to control air pollution. While the air quality standards are developed by the EPA, see 42 U.S.C. § 7409, the Congress directed each state to develop and submit for the EPA's approval a state implementation plan containing the state's strategies for achieving the air quality standards, see 42 U.S.C. § 7410. Section 176(c)(1) was enacted to prevent federal activities from interfering with the efforts of a state to attain the goals set out in its SIP. As the EPA explains, [t]his integration of Federal actions and air quality planning is intended to protect the integrity of the SIP by helping to ensure that SIP growth projections are not exceeded, emissions reduction progress targets are achieved, and air quality attainment and maintenance efforts are not undermined. 58 Fed.Reg. 63,215/2. 54 Read literally, section 176(c)(1) of the Clean Air Act requires that a federal action conform to the implementation plan that is currently in place, not to a revised plan that has yet to be examined and approved by the EPA. See 58 Fed.Reg. 63,237-38 (The plain language of the statute does not allow the flexibility suggested by the comment proposing that conformity determinations be based upon the most recent SIP revisions submitted to EPA). When the state expresses a willingness to revise its SIP specifically to account for the emissions that will arise from a proposed federal action, the literal terms of the statute would prevent the federal action from proceeding until such time as a full-fledged SIP revision could be developed, submitted, and approved. The result would be to frustrate the process of state and federal cooperation and the integrated planning that section 176(c)(1) was created to foster; this rigid application of the conformity rule would block a federal action that the state desires and promises to accommodate through the appropriate adjustments to levels of emissions from other sources. Because this literal reading of the statute would actually frustrate the congressional intent supporting it, we look to the EPA for an interpretation of the statute more true to the Congress's purpose. 55 As the EPA explained in its preamble to the final rule, section 51.858(a)(5)(i) of the regulations is consistent with the congressional desire to assure that State plans are not undermined by Federal actions; thus, where the State voluntarily commits to revise its SIP so that a Federal action conforms, that action would not undermine the State's decision-making ability and should be allowed to conform. 58 Fed.Reg. 63,236/1. The circumstances in which this provision applies are quite narrow; in order to ensure that the SIP will indeed be revised as promised, a commitment must be made by the Governor or Governor's designee for submitting SIP revisions and must provide for revision of the SIP so that emissions from the Federal action would conform to the SIP emission budget in a time period consistent with the time that emissions from a Federal action would occur. Id. This commitment must include, inter alia, a specific schedule for SIP revision, identification of specific accommodation measures that would be taken, and written documentation to support the conformity determination. Given these safeguards, as well as the enforcement power wielded by the EPA, see 40 C.F.R. § 51.858(a)(5)(i)(C); 42 U.S.C. § 7509, we find that the regulation is reasonable, narrowly drawn, consistent with the purpose of the Act, and therefore within the EPA's discretion. 56 For the preceding reasons, the petitions for review are 57 Denied.