Opinion ID: 185506
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Clean Air Act and Indian Tribes

Text: 2 The Clean Air Act establishes an intergovernmental partnership to regulate air quality in the United States. Described as an experiment in federalism, Virginia v. EPA, 108 F.3d 1397, 1408 (D.C. Cir. 1997) (quoting Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. Gorsuch, 742 F.2d 1028, 1036-37 (7th Cir. 1984)), the Act gives EPA responsibility for establishing National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). 42 U.S.C. 7409; see also Whitman v. American Trucking Ass'ns, 531 U.S. 457, __, 121 S. Ct. 903, 907 (2001). Title V of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments gives states responsibility for implementing these standards. See, e.g., 42 U.S.C. §§ 7407, 7410. 3 As part of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, Congress also authorized EPA to treat Indian tribes as States, thus affording Indian tribes the same opportunity as states to implement the NAAQS within tribal jurisdictions under a Title V program. 42 U.S.C. 7601(d). Title V requires that states submit and obtain EPA approval of a state operating permit program (SOP) that meets the minimum elements set forth under 42 U.S.C. 7661a(d) and EPA regulations promulgated pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 7661a(b). Among the requirements is that the state demonstrate that it has adequate authority, including jurisdiction, to regulate the emission sources subject to the SOP. Id. at 7661a(d). This same requirement applies to Indian tribes seeking to enact their own implementation plan. Id. at 7601(d). 4 Congress recognized the unique legal status and circumstances of Indian tribes by allowing tribes to be treated as states, but not requiring them to apply to EPA to manage Clean Air Act programs. See id. at 7601(d)(1)(A). Tribes may be treated as states if: they have a governing body; the functions they are to exercise pertain to the management and protection of air resources within the tribe's jurisdiction; and the tribe is capable of carrying out these functions. See 42 U.S.C. 7601(d)(2). No tribe to date has sought to create an implementation plan. In the Tribal Authority Rule (TAR), EPA exercised authority under 42 U.S.C. §§ 7601(d)(2), (4) by specifying those portions of the Clean Air Act for which it deemed it appropriate to treat Indian tribes as states, and the requirements necessary for tribes to establish jurisdiction to develop Title V permitting programs. See Indian Tribes: Air Quality Planning and Management, 63 Fed. Reg. 7254 (Feb. 12, 1998) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 9, 35, 49, 50, and 81). EPA's interpretation was upheld by this Court in Arizona Pub. Serv. Co. v. EPA, 211 F.3d 1280 (D.C. Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 121 S. Ct. 1600 (2001). Under the TAR a tribe may only develop a Title V permitting program for nonreservation areas if the tribe can demonstrate jurisdiction under federal Indian law. Therefore the TAR provides a procedure for resolving jurisdictional disputes. See 40 C.F.R. 49.9(e). 5 If a state fails to create an EPA-approved implementation plan, or in cases where an approved program is not being properly implemented, Congress requires EPA to promulgate, administer, and enforce a federal operating permit program. 42 U.S.C. §§ 7661a(d)(3), (i)(3). Further, in the absence of an EPA-approved tribal implementation program, EPA may adopt a federal implementation program. See 42 U.S.C. 7601(d)(4). However, the parties before us disagree as to the source of EPA's power to enact such a program for Indian country. The EPA claims its authority under the CAA is based in part on the general purpose of the CAA, which was only supplemented in the Indian tribe context by 42 U.S.C. 7601(d)(4). 64 Fed. Reg. at 8251; see also 62 Fed. Reg. 13748, 13749 (proposed rule and notice) (Today's notice makes it clear that EPA's implementation of part 71 programs in Indian country is based on EPA's overarching authority to protect air quality within Indian country, not solely on its authority to act in the stead of an Indian Tribe.). In contrast, petitioners essentially contend EPA is merely authorized to act in the shoes of the tribes--providing a federal implementation program for tribes as it would for a state that failed to develop an approved program. In any event, both sides agree that in the absence of a tribal implementation plan, EPA may provide a federal operating plan for lands under the tribe's jurisdiction.