By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//April 29, 2014//
U.S. Supreme Court
Civil
Environmental Law — Clean Air Act
The CAA does not command that States be given a second opportunity to file a SIP after EPA has quantified the State’s interstate pollution obligations.
The fact that EPA had previously accorded upwind States a chance to allocate emission budgets among their in-state sources does not show that the Agency acted arbitrarily by refraining to do so here. EPA retained discretion to alter its course provided it gave a reasonable explanation for doing so. Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Assn. of United States, Inc. v. State Farm Mut. Automobile Ins. Co., 463 U. S. 29, 42. Here, the Agency had been admonished by the D. C. Circuit to act with dispatch in amending or replacing CAIR. Endeavoring to satisfy that directive, EPA acted speedily, issuing FIPs and the Transport Rule contemporaneously.
696 F. 3d 7, reversed and remanded.
12-1182 & 12-1183 EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P.
Ginsburg, J.; Scalia, J., dissenting.