5th Circuit Backs EPA’s SO2 ‘Nonattainment’ Findings In Texas Counties

A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has upheld EPA’s contested designation of two Texas counties as “nonattainment” for sulfur dioxide (SO2), backing the agency’s discretion to rely on Sierra Club air modeling and to interpret its own guidelines on modeling over objections from Texas and electric utility Luminant. In its Jan. 11 ruling in State of Texas, et al v. EPA , the court upholds the agency’s nonattainment findings for Rusk and Panola...