Opinion ID: 413378
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Receipt of a Delayed Compliance Order

Text: 125 The second condition that a source must fulfill to qualify for the inability to comply exemption is that it must have received a delayed compliance order under section 113(d). EPA's regulations provide that a source may not receive the exemption unless it has already received such an order, or the equivalent in the form of a consent decree. 40 C.F.R. Sec. 66.31(a)(4) (1981). Industry petitioners object, claiming that they should be entitled to an exemption if they have petitioned for a delayed compliance order and their petition appears meritorious. 126 We affirm EPA's determination that a source must already have received a delayed compliance order to qualify for the exemption. The statutory language is unequivocal: for which inability the source has received an order under section 113(d). Sec. 120(a)(2)(B)(iv). The choice of the past tense is clear indication that Congress meant to limit the exemption to cases in which a source had passed through the carefully defined procedures of section 113, and we affirm.