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Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

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Tracking the latest agency and congressional debates over rules to cut emissions of traditional pollutants, and a broad range of novel EPA policies including the agency's shift to a "multipollutant" regulatory approach for individual sectors.

D.C. Circuit Will Decide CSAPR ‘Close-Out’ Suit Without Oral Argument

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will decide states and environmentalists’ case against EPA’s “close-out” of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) emissions trading program without hearing oral argument, in what may be a bad omen for EPA’s chances of successfully defending the rule. “The court concludes, on its own motion, that oral argument will not assist the court in these consolidated cases. Accordingly, the court will dispose of the petitions for review without oral...

Trump Administration Ramps Up Political War Over Vehicle GHG Rules

President Donald Trump and his aides are aggressively casting his administration’s rule to scrap state vehicle emissions standards not just as deregulation but also as part of a broader political war with California -- and rich elites -- in an apparent effort to retain or broaden support ahead of the 2020 election. For example, at a Sept. 19 press conference to unveil the preemption rule, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told a drew a contrast between the “middle class” and affluent...

Candidates Urged To Expand High Court Due To Climate Law Threats

Progressive academics are urging Democratic presidential candidates to back calls to add more seats to the Supreme Court, charging that even if they win the 2020 election and are able to usher in sweeping climate change legislation, the current justices are “poised to strike down key aspects of any conceivable” climate law. The claims are included in a new report from a group known as Take Back the Court, which urges Democrats to pass a new law adding seats to...

ACE critics seek to stay suit until NSR rule completed

Environmental and health groups that oppose EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) power plant greenhouse gas rule are urging appellate judges to pause their cause over the rule until the agency acts on a related rule to ease new source review (NSR) requirements and responds to administrative reconsideration petitions. If the request were granted, it would likely significantly stall the case, a stance at odds with EPA’s push for an expedited review. The groups in a Sept. 20 motion in American...


Targeting Venue, States Quickly Sue Over California Auto GHG Preemption

A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia is challenging the Trump administration’s final rule preempting California’s vehicle greenhouse gas standards, filing suit in district court even before the policy has been officially published in the Federal Register . The Sept. 20 lawsuit , State of California, et al. v. Elaine Chao, et al. , was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia -- a notable choice given assertions in the Sept. 19 final...

Agencies Defend Legal Basis For Scrapping California Auto GHG Waiver

EPA and the Transportation Department (DOT) are defending the legal basis for their just-issued rule revoking California’s power to set its own vehicle greenhouse gas limits, asserting the state is preempted by fuel economy law and lacks “compelling and extraordinary” conditions needed to receive such authority under the Clean Air Act. The justifications are laid out in a Sept. 19 joint rulemaking by EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that represents an unprecedented withdrawal of the state’s...

Science Rule Schedule Slips As EPA Readies Supplemental, Wheeler Says

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told the House science committee Sept. 19 that the agency’s schedule for issuing its controversial rule barring regulators from relying on scientific research that is not published has slipped as the agency is preparing to issue a supplemental proposal in early 2020. “I was hoping [the supplemental] would be published prior to 2020, but in my staff notes, I’m told early next year,” Wheeler said in response to lawmakers’ questions. “Things seem to take longer than...

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