The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is rejecting New Jersey's challenge to a years-old EPA rule limiting facilities' Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) recordkeeping and reporting requirements, saying the agency was justified in setting a minimum threshold of emissions below which no reporting is required. In its 2-1 ruling issued March 5 in New Jersey v. EPA, the majority of a divided three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit disagrees with New Jersey's claims that setting a 50 percent de minimis threshold of the "significance" level for a given pollutant may result in evasion of recordkeeping and reporting mandates. The court also rejects the state's claim that the rule could have led facilities to avoid "major" NSR emissions controls. Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan and Circuit Judges Judith Rogers and Justin Walker all side with EPA on the merits of the case, but Walker in a dissent says New Jersey lacked legal standing to bring the suit.
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