The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated part of EPA's 2022 rule establishing emission standards for industrial boilers. In granting the Petition for Review filed by industry groups, the DC Circuit agreed that the boiler rule was inconsistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA).
Stricter Standards for New Sources
The 2022 rule established standards for "new" boilers that are stricter than for "existing" boilers. When EPA issues emission standards for new sources, the CAA says sources are "new" if construction started after EPA "first proposed" the standard.
CAA Unclear on Proposal Date
The 2022 rule defined as "new" those boilers constructed after June 4, 2010; EPA "first proposed" emission standards for this category in 2010 and EPA asserted this proposal determined the date of a "new source." The Petition argued that each consecutive standard sets a new "proposed" date; EPA proposed the standards in the 2022 rule in 2020.
EPA and the industry groups agreed that both interpretations were "semantically plausible."
Structure and Context Support Industry's Interpretation
Based on "the remainder of the statutory scheme," especially the "structure" of the CAA and the "context" of the CAA's definition of a "new source," the DC Circuit agreed with industry. The DC Circuit noted that EPA has a special compliance rule that grants companies a grace period to retrofit if 1) construction starts after EPA proposes a new standard and 2) the final standard is stricter than the proposed standard. If that proposal date is irrelevant due to an earlier proposal, as EPA argued, those who completed construction prior to the new proposal would get no grace period, while those that started after the new proposal would get one.
To see the DC Circuit's opinion 22-1271-2072726.pdf
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