This week, a unanimous three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit held that the EPA reasonably denied a petition to initiate rulemaking that would have considered whether to include coal mines on the list of stationary air pollutant sources regulated under the Clean Air Act.
Environmental advocacy groups brought the petition seeking to list coal mines as a category of stationary sources that emit air pollution. This would have required the EPA to establish New Source Performance Standards for coal mine emissions of methane and other pollutants. The EPA denied the petition explaining that its budget constraints forced it to focus on higher-priority regulatory actions such as greenhouse-gas emissions, but indicated that it was not making a determination of whether coal mines should be regulated.
WildEarth Guardians challenged the EPA's denial, relying heavily on Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), and alleging that the Clean Air Act does not contain an express provision allowing the EPA to consider its available resources and conflicting regulatory priorities in deciding whether to create a rule or take...
