SUIT ON PM NAAQS TESTS EPA FAILURE TO HEED SCIENCE ADVISERS' ADVICE

摘要

Just-filed briefs from states and environmentalists challenging EPA's national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM) could provide a key test on the extent to which the agency must heed the advice of its clean air science advisors when setting NAAQS. The plaintiffs are arguing in briefs filed earlier this month that although EPA is not mandated by law to follow the advice of its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC), not doing so was "arbitrary and capricious" under Clean Air Act requirements to set a standard that is protective of human health and the environment. If the plaintiffs are successful, it could have consequences for scientific advice the agency receives for all six criteria pollutants — PM, ozone, lead, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide — all of which EPA is currently reconsidering.