Opinion ID: 187435
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Multiple Factors

Text: Finally, petitioners compare weighted emissions scores, design values, population density, number of commuters, and population growth for four attainment counties (Lee County, Alabama; Russell County, Alabama; Sevier County, Tennessee; and Fulton County, Ohio) with the same data for one nonattainment county  New York's Orange County  to illustrate that EPA applied the nine factors inconsistently, rendering the designation process unpredictable and arbitrary. See Technical Support Document §§ 6.4.2.5, 6.4.6.2, 6.5.4.9. Although this argument acknowledges, where the others do not, that EPA considers how the various factors might work together, it fails for two reasons. First, as we have already explained, see supra at 31-32, comparisons of weighted emissions scores between counties in different C/MSAs are meaningless. And second, even though Orange County ranked relatively low on some factors, which might suggest it was a good candidate for an attainment designation, it also has emissions levels of PM2.5, SO2, and NOx that far exceed the levels of the four attainment counties petitioners point to. See Technical Support Document § 6.2.2. Orange County's designation, which is adequately justified, is yet another illustration of the case-by-case analysis that the Designations Rule calls for and the nine-factor test achieves.