D.C. Circuit Orders EPA To Reconsider Denial Of MATS ‘Startup’ Petition

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is directing EPA to reconsider environmentalists’ petition challenging provisions in the Obama-era mercury and air toxics standards (MATS) that exempted utility boilers from tough emissions limits during startup and shutdown, saying EPA unreasonably denied the petition. But the court, in a unanimous three-judge panel ruling issued March 13, declines to examine the merits of EPA’s “work practice” alternative to MATS emissions limits that environmentalists contested, finding instead that environmentalists...