Opinion ID: 455926
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Requisite Finding With Respect to Emission Increases

Text: 16 The EPA contends that to grant a waiver under section 211(f)(4), the Administrator is required only to determine that the fuel will not cause vehicles to exceed applicable emission standards. Brief for EPA at 9. The EPA makes this argument in response to MVMA's and amicus AIA's assertions that Congress intended section 211(f)(4) to preclude the grant of a waiver if the fuel caused any increase in emissions. See Brief for MVMA at 30, 43; Brief for AIA at 19-22; but see Brief for MVMA at 26, 45 (referring to any increase which causes or contributes to a vehicle's failure to meet emission standards). AIA contends that the Act's language stating that a waiver must be denied if a fuel contributes to a failure to achieve compliance with emission standards means that a waiver must be denied if the subject fuel causes any increase in emissions. Brief for AIA at 20 (emphasis in original); see also Reply Brief for MVMA at 12-13. We note at the outset that the decision whether to grant a waiver is committed to the discretion of the Administrator. See 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7545(f)(4) (The Administrator ... may waive the prohibitions ...) (emphasis added). Thus, the question is not whether the Administrator may deny a waiver on the basis of an increase in emissions not amounting to a failure to meet emission standards, but whether section 211(f)(4) mandates that the Administrator must deny a waiver if a fuel causes any increase in emissions. 17 The plain language of section 211(f)(4) refers not to any increase in emissions but to a failure of any emission control device or system ... to achieve compliance ... with the [applicable] emissions standards.... 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7545(f)(4). Section 211(f)(4) was added to the Clean Air Act in 1977. See Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977, Pub.L. No. 95-95, Sec. 222, 91 Stat. 685, 763-64. 7 The Senate version of section 211(f)(4), relied upon by AIA, would have required a waiver applicant to establish that the fuel did not impair emission performance. See S.Rep. No. 127, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 90-91 (1977). The conferees, however, rejected the Senate version, and in adopting the current language of section 211(f)(4) stated: 18 Thus, if a fuel or fuel additive causes an increase in engine emissions so as to increase tail pipe emissions or interferes with performance of a specific device or element of emission control so as to cause or contribute to the vehicle's failure to meet the standards at any point in its useful life, the Administrator could not waive the prohibition. 19 H.R.Conf.Rep. No. 564, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 161 (1977), U.S.Code Cong. & Admin.News 1977, pp. 1077, 1542 (emphasis added). Thus we find that both the plain language of the Act and its legislative history support the EPA's view that the Administrator is not required under section 211(f)(4) to adopt a no increase standard and may grant a waiver as long as the fuel does not cause or contribute to a failure to achieve compliance with emission standards. Cf. Specialty Equip. Mkt. Ass'n v. Ruckelshaus, 720 F.2d 124, 133-34 (D.C.Cir.1983) (rejecting MVMA's contention that section 207(a)(2) of the Act required a no-increase standard with respect to the certification of aftermarket parts).