Judges Question North Dakota's Right To Intervene In RCRA Deadline Suit

摘要

A three-judge appeals court panel at oral argument Nov. 7 pressed North Dakota to explain what right the state has to intervene in a settlement between EPA and environmentalists that resolves a deadline suit over the agency's delay in reviewing whether to revise Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) oil and gas industry waste rules. During the argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel, EPA and environmentalists shared debate time to ask the court to uphold a district court's ruling in Environmental Integrity Project (ELP), et al. v. Scott Pruitt, which found that North Dakota failed to demonstrate it has Article III standing to intervene. North Dakota at argument contended that the consent decree reached as a result of EIP's lawsuit diverges from RCRA, excluding states' role in the regulatory review process.