02-1343 Engine Mfrs. Assn. v. South Coast Air Quality Management Dist.

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The Fleet Rules do not escape preemption just because they address the purchase of vehicles, rather than their manufacture or sale. Neither the District Court’s interpretation of “standard” to include only regulations that compel manufacturers to meet specified emission limits nor its resulting distinction between purchase and sales restrictions finds support in sec. 209(a)’s text or the CAA’s structure. The ordinary meaning of language employed by Congress is assumed accurately to express its legislative purpose. Park ‘N Fly, Inc. v. Dollar Park & Fly, Inc., 469 U.S. 189, 194. Today, as when sec. 209(a) became law, “standard” means that which “is established by authority, custom, or general consent, as a model or example; criterion; test.” Webster’s Second New International Dictionary 2455. The criteria referred to in sec. 209 relate to the emission characteristics of a vehicle or engine. This interpretation is consistent with the use of “standard” throughout Title II of the CAA. Defining “standard” to encompass only production mandates confuses standards with methods of enforcing standards. Manufacturers (or purchasers) can be made responsible for ensuring that vehicles comply with emission standards, but the standards themselves are separate from enforcement techniques. While standards target vehicles and engines, standard-enforcement efforts can be directed toward manufacturers or purchasers. This distinction is borne out in the enforcement provisions immediately following CAA sec. 202. And sec. 246, which requires federal purchasing restrictions, shows that Congress contemplated the enforcement of emission standards through purchase requirements. A purchase/sale distinction also makes no sense, since a manufacturer’s right to sell federally approved vehicles is meaningless absent a purchaser’s right to buy them.

309 F.3d 550, vacated and remanded.

Scalia, J.; Souter, J., dissenting.