Court Accepts EPA Briefing Plan In ESPS Suit, Setting Quick Stay Deadline

摘要

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has largely accepted EPA's proposed scheduling order in litigation challenging the agency's final existing power plant greenhouse gas rule, including imposing a fast deadline for any additional motions to stay the regulation during judicial review. The Oct. 29 per curiam order in West Virginia, et al. v. EPA, et al. says any additional stay motions must be filed by Nov. 5 and be limited to 20 pages. The court limits EPA to a 50-page response to all stay motions that is due by Dec. 3. One reply by stay opponents, limited to 32 pages, must be filed by Dec. 8, and any replies by stay supporters must be filed by Dec. 23 and be limited to 41 pages. Relevant documents are available on InsideEPA.com. Seepage 2 for details. (Doc. ID: 186095) The order reflects the deadlines EPA suggested in an Oct. 28 motion but imposes stricter page number limits. It also provides one indication of the possible makeup of the three-judge panel that would rule on the stay requests - a critical detail to the outcome of the ruling - though the composition is not certain. Despite the quick action on the stay requests, petitioners still have 60 days from Oct. 23 to petition for review of the rule, or to side with EPA in defending it.