D.C. Judge Nixes Delay on Rule for Boiler Emissions
D.C. Judge Nixes Delay on Rule for Boiler Emissions
(CN) - The Environmental Protection Agency failed to justify continuing the delay of rules on air emissions, which had already been put off for more than 10 years, a federal judge ruled.
Over environmentalist' objections, courts had granted a number of extensions to a Clean Air Act deadline of November 2000 for the agency to set standards on emissions from boilers and solid-waste incineration.
The EPA issued rules that apply to commerce and industry in early 2011. But two days before the rules were set to take effect in May last year, the agency delayed their implementation, setting the wheels in motion for a challenge by the Sierra Club, which has persistently litigated to push the rules forward.
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington found that the delay was arbitrary and capricious, agreeing with the Sierra Club for three of four reasons.
Justification for the delay had not lived up to judicial standards, as it should have; it was not based on any underlying litigation, as the agency had argued; and it went against an EPA precedent to apply a four-part test weighing harm, including to the public.
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/13/43030.htm
