EPA Touts Discretion To Prioritize Rules In Defending Mine NSPS Petition

摘要

EPA is touting its Clean Air Act discretion to prioritize rules in urging an appellate court to reject environmentalists' lawsuit over the agency's decision to reject their petition seeking first-time controls on coal mines' emissions of methane, saying nothing in the air law mandates EPA to move advocates' preferred policies "to the head of the queue." In a Dec. 24 brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, EPA also reiterates past defenses of its decision to reject the petition, including that at a time of reduced budgets it lacks the resources to pursue the discretionary rulemaking; that it needs to first finalize other higher-priority rules; and that it must prioritize its response to court-ordered deadlines and non-discretionary statutory deadlines for other policies.