The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld the Clinton-era Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter (PM), and EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman has stated that the Bush Administration will support the legal ruling. The decision brings to an apparent end a nearly five-year battle over what will become the most stringent air pollution controls in the nation’s history.
EPA issued the ozone and PM standards in July 1997. With respect to ozone, EPA replaced the current one-hour primary ozone standard of 0.12 parts per million (ppm) with a new eight-hour standard of 0.08 ppm, allowing for four exceedances. EPA also announced a fine PM standard of 2.5 microns or less in diameter, with a 24-hour standard of 65 micrograms per cubic meter. Those cities and metropolitan areas moved into non-attainment status by the new standard would be required to undertake stringent new actions to reduce emissions that contribute to ozone, and virtually every business and industry, particularly manufacturing industries, would be affected.
The American Trucking Associations (ATA), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and others, filed suit to block implementation of the NAAQS standards, arguing that the science relied upon by EPA was faulty, and that the impact on small businesses had not been addressed adequately. Although the Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to reject major portions of the rule in May 1999, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in EPA’s favor in February 2001, the matter was remanded to the appeals court for further action, which prompted this new ATA challenge.
In this decision, the appeals court ruled that EPA did not exceed its authority when it issued the NAAQS standards, and also ruled the regulations were not arbitrary or capricious. In response to the decision, Administrator Whitman issued a statement saying that the courts “unanimous decision is a significant victory in EPA's ongoing efforts to protect the health of millions of Americans from the dangers of air pollution. EPA now has a clear path to move forward to ensure that all Americans can breathe cleaner air. The President has put forward an ambitious plan – the Clear Skies initiative – to reduce power plant emissions of three key pollutants by 70 percent. [The] ruling strengthens the case for the President's initiative by affirming EPA's approach to regulating emissions that cause smog and acid rain.”
EPA must now undertake the project of designating non-attainment areas under the new standards, and preliminary estimates have shown that more than 600 counties across the country likely will fall into this category. Non-compliance will force a wide range of new pollution control measures, which will open the way for prolonged debate and controversy between EPA, state authorities, and industry interests. While hailed as a major victory by the environmentalists, business groups involved with the litigation noted that EPA’s program has been delayed over five years and the Agency’s rulemakings stemming from the court cases likely will be more deliberate.
