EPA APPEALS BOARD DECLINES TO HEAR CO2 ISSUES IN KEY PERMIT CASE

摘要

EPA's Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) is declining to hear arguments at an upcoming hearing on whether carbon dioxide (CO2) is a regulated pollutant subject to permit limits under the Clean Air Act. The move appears likely to prevent environmentalists from making novel, first-time arguments that CO2 is already regulated by EPA- including claims that the agency regulates the pollutant through air rules for landfill emissions and approval of state air quality plans that include greenhouse gas-related provisions. The CO2 arguments are critical in environmentalists' broader efforts to regulate the greenhouse gas, though if the board does not reach the issue here, it is also considering it in another pending case. EAB in an Oct. 2 order in the case In re: Northern Michigan University Ripley Heating Plant says that "it will not entertain arguments" on the greenhouse gas issues raised by the Sierra Club in its petition for review of the permit at issue in the case.