Opinion ID: 392800
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: NRDC's Objections to the Particulate Standards

Text: 81 The NRDC, in contrast to GM, thinks that the EPA's standards for diesel particulates are too lax, and attacks a number of the decisions in their regulatory genesis. We find no merit in the NRDC's objections. 82 The NRDC's first attack is on the regulatory date, relying on the EPA's suggestion that there is a strong likelihood that trap-oxidizers will be feasible for vehicle application by 1984, Regulatory Analysis at 53, J.A. 532. In view of the uncertainty remaining as to whether even the 1985 date is realistic, we defer to the EPA's determination that a 1984 date would leave too little margin for error. 83 The second objection is to the EPA's consideration of cost in standard setting. The NRDC notes the EPA's estimate that (e)ven with the particulate regulations, the overall cost of pollution control from diesels should be less than that from gasoline engines. Id. at 120-22, J.A. 599-601. The NRDC argues that the carcinogenic character of diesel particulates makes diesel vehicles so dangerous that appropriate consideration to cost would require the EPA to discourage purchase of diesels by making them more expensive. Emission standards should be tightened until the cost of compliance by diesels exceeds the cost of compliance by gasoline vehicles. But the correlation between scientific achievement and research investment is not so mechanical that the EPA could set a dollar figure and then compute the level of emission control it would buy. The agency has projected the probable course of future advances in particulate reduction to the best of its ability, assuming a reasonable range of research investment. The statute requires no more. 84 The NRDC also charges that the EPA ignored the risk of cancer posed by particulates. Even a glance at the record refutes the suggestion that the EPA was unaware of the risk, or irresponsibly discounted it. 32 A more temperate rephrasing of this claim is that the regulatory approach would have been stricter if the EPA had focused more strongly on the carcinogenic potential of diesel emissions. In this form, the claim becomes another facet of the NRDC's attack on the choice of worst-performing diesel as the measure of technological feasibility. 85 Although we have held that the proper statutory basis of the EPA's power to issue particulate standards for light-duty vehicles is the general authority of section 202(a)(1), see Part II(A) supra, the EPA viewed itself as bound by the explicit mandate of section 202(a)(3)(A)(iii) to require the greatest degree of emission reduction achievable. See Regulatory Analysis at 31, J.A. 510. Both provisions call for a determination that the technology needed for compliance will be available when the standards take effect. Assuming arguendo that appropriate consideration of the carcinogenic potential of diesel particulates would have required standards reflecting the greatest degree of reduction achievable, we turn to the NRDC's claim that the worst-performing-diesel standard does not comply with the directive of section 202(a)(3)(A)(iii). 86 The EPA defends its decision to promulgate a single particulate standard applicable to all light-duty diesel vehicles, rather than a number of standards applicable to various classes of diesels. One reason given is the absence of any apparent parameter on which to base such a classification. 33 Another concern is the paradoxical result that graduated standards, by imposing stricter and more costly requirements on low-polluting vehicles, would skew competition in favor of the more loosely regulated, highly polluting models. Finally, Congress itself has taught this method by example, providing unitary emission standards for all passenger vehicles in both the 1970 and 1977 amendments. We conclude that the adoption of a single particulate standard for light-duty diesel vehicles was within the EPA's regulatory discretion. 87 Even if a single standard is proper, the NRDC asserts, it ought not to be one that every diesel can meet. The NRDC cites a favorable passage in International Harvester, in which this court agreed with the Administrator that the Act's technological feasibility provisions required only that the standards permit basic auto demand to be met, even though this might occasion fewer models and a more limited choice of engine types. 478 F.2d at 640. In this case, however, the EPA viewed the legislative history of the 1977 amendments as justifying a more tolerant attitude toward diesel development in the near future. See text at note 36 infra. The availability of waivers of the 1.0 gpm oxides of nitrogen standard for any class or category of diesel vehicles that requires them, Act § 202(b)(6)(B) (emphasis added), certainly suggests an interest in exploring the full range of potential benefits of diesel technology. We do not hold that the statute mandates such an approach, but it was well within the EPA's regulatory discretion to impose standards which provide significant particulate reductions, but which do not force any diesel models out of production. Regulatory Analysis at 32, J.A. 511.