EPA ‘Compelled’ To Cut Affirmative Defense From Air Permits, Agency Says

EPA is defending its rule removing “affirmative defenses” for malfunction emissions from air permits as “reasonable” and “compelled” by the Clean Air Act and legal precedent, arguing in a new legal filing that its action comports with an appellate court’s bifurcated view of such defenses, amid industry accusations that the rule is unlawful. In an Oct. 7 brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in SSM Litigation Group v. EPA , the agency...