Remanding Regional Haze Rule to EPA An 'End-Run,' Texas, Utilities Tell Court

摘要

Leaving in place a federal plan to improve visibility in protected wilderness areas in Texas and Oklahoma while the Environmental Protection Agency works to correct the regulation amounts to an "end-run" around fundamental legal flaws with the rule, Texas and affected utilities told a federal court (Texas v. EPA, 5th Cir., No. 16-60118, motion 12/19/16). Instead, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit should vacate the EPA's federal regional haze plan for Texas and Oklahoma rather than remand the rule for correction as the EPA has requested. The states' plans should be reinstated as a result they said. Barring that, Texas and the utilities asked the Fifth Circuit Dec. 19 to halt implementation of the federal haze plan while the EPA makes the needed corrections.