Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
1/25/13
IN THE COURTS
A U.S. federal appeals court this week denied a petition filed by the Environmental Protection Agency to rehear a case in which the body vacated an agency rulemaking aimed at curbing SO2 and NOx pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants. A majority of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia voted down a rehearing of a case regarding the agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. In a 2-1 vote in August, the court ruled in favor of a group of states, coal companies and utilities that argued that EPA exceeded its statutory authority under the ‘good neighbor’ provision of the Clean Air Act. The judges ordered EPA to go back to the drawing board and craft a new rulemaking, but in October EPA filed a petition requesting a relatively rare “en banc” rehearing, where all eight judges on the court would hear the case. EPA said Jan. 24 that it was “disappointed” with the court’s response. “The agency is reviewing the decision and will determine any appropriate further course of action once the review is complete,” EPA said in a statement.
