9th Circuit Breaks Trend Of Courts Deferring To EPA On Haze Air Planning

摘要

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit has vacated and remanded to EPA parts of its federal implementation plan (FIP) imposing haze air pollution reduction controls on Montana, breaking with a trend of recent rulings by appellate courts that have deferred to EPA's discretion on how to set emissions limits in haze plans. The June 9 opinion in National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), et al. v. EPA by Circuit Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain and fellow Judge Richard Tallman, with a concurrence by Judge Marsha Berzon sends the vacated parts of the haze plan back to the agency for further consideration. The affected provisions cover emissions control requirements for the Colstrip and J.E. Correette power generating stations that are both owned by the utility PPL Montana. See page 2 for details. (Doc. ID: 182138) Environmental groups including NPCA filed suit over the FIP as did the utility, though for competing reasons as advocates said part of the plan was too weak while PPL Montana said parts were too strict.