EPA is touting its "broad discretion" to delay rules under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in its latest legal arguments urging a federal district court to scrap environmentalists' lawsuit seeking a ruling vacating the agency's rare decision to issue a self-imposed stay on implementing its contested air rules for boilers and incinerators. In earlier briefs filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, EPA has previously urged the court to reject Sierra Club's lawsuit by saying the district court is the wrong venue to hear the challenge and that suits over stay of the rules should be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Sierra Club in contrast argues in its legal briefing that the APA makes clear that the district court holds jurisdiction over the suit, and wants the stay vacated to force implementation of the stalled air rules. EPA's latest Aug. 25 brief in the suit now focuses on undermining activists' claims that the stay is unlawful under APA, while also reiterating EPA's claim that Sierra Club filed the suit in the wrong court.
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