Judges Question EPA Authority For Ozone Fee Guide Seen As Final Action

摘要

Appellate court judges at oral arguments questioned EPA's authority for issuing a guidance allowing states to offer alternatives to a Clean Air Act fee program for sources of ozone pollution, while suggesting that the guidance can be seen as final agency action subject to review because it has changed the behavior of state and federal regulators. The three U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit judges hearing the May 12 oral arguments over the guidance appeared to generally back the Natural Resources Defense Council's (NRDC) claims and rebuff the agency's arguments that the document is a non-binding, non-final action because it creates no new requirements.