3rd Circuit Weighs 'Cumulative' Air Impacts In Suit Over State's Haze Plan

摘要

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit judges at oral arguments in litigation over Pennsylvania's regional haze air pollution plan pressed EPA on why it did not force the state to consider "cumulative" emissions impacts in approving the plan, in a case that could set an important precedent on the criteria the agency must use in reviewing such plans. Environmentalists with the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) and other groups are urging the court to agree with their claim that the Clean Air Act requires the agency to consider cumulative impacts when deciding whether regional haze state implementation plans (SIPs) are adequate and lawful. But the Department of Justice (DOJ) on EPA's behalf is arguing to the court that the agency is not required to use such assessments. In the case, NPCA, et al. v. EPA, environmentalists are challenging EPA's approval of Pennsylvania's haze SIP that requires no additional controls on haze-emitting sources - mostly coal-fired power plants.