Manufacturers Sue EPA Over Sulfur Dioxide After Agency Denies Petition to Reconsider

Environment Reporter^™

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Source:  Environment Reporter: News Archive > 2011 > 03/18/2011 > Air Pollution > Air Quality Standards: Manufacturers Sue EPA Over Sulfur Dioxide After Agency Denies Petition to Reconsider

42 ER 545

Air Quality Standards

Manufacturers Sue EPA Over Sulfur Dioxide After Agency Denies Petition to Reconsider

A coalition of manufacturers sued the Environmental Protection Agency in a federal appellate court after the agency denied its petition to reconsider the health-based air quality standard for sulfur dioxide (National Environmental Development Assn's Clean Air Project v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 11-1073,3/10/11).

The lawsuit filed March 10 by the National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is likely to be consolidated with several other challenges to EPA's primary national ambient air quality standard for sulfur dioxide, Leslie Ritts, an attorney for the association, told BNA March 15. She said EPA's final sulfur dioxide rule requires states to use emissions modeling rather than actual ambient monitoring data when determining compliance with the rule. EPA had not included that provision in the proposed rule, Ritts said. She said the latest lawsuit was more of a “procedural” move rather than a fresh challenge to the standard.

The National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project is a manufacturing trade association that includes ALCOA Inc., ExxonMobil Corp., and Procter & Gamble Corp.

EPA Jan. 26 denied petitions from several states and industry groups, including the National Environmental Development Association's Clean Air Project, asking to reconsider the standard, calling the arguments for reconsideration “inadequate and generally irrelevant” (76 Fed. Reg. 4780; 42 ER 150, 1/28/11).

In the petitions, industry groups and states argued the agency had not provided adequate notice it intended to base compliance with the standard on emissions modeling rather than on monitoring.

EPA set the first hourly standard for sulfur dioxide in June 2010 at 0.075 part per million. That was the first time the standards had been revised since 1971. The hourly standard replaced the prior annual standard of 0.03 ppm. The primary air quality standard is set to protect public health (75 Fed. Reg. 35,520; 41 ER 1221, 6/4/10).

The secondary standard is being reviewed as part of a separate rulemaking process to set a joint secondary standard for oxides of both nitrogen and sulfur (42 ER 151, 1/28/11).

The secondary standard is set to protect public welfare and the environment.

Several states and industry groups have filed challenges to the revised standard (National Environmental Development Assn's Clean Air Project v. EPA, D.C. Cir., No. 10-1252, 8/23/10; 41 ER 1928, 8/27/10).

The lawsuits were filed in the D.C. Circuit by Asarco LLC, Montana Sulfur & Chemical Co., the National Development Association's Clean Air Project, North Dakota, the SO2 NAAQS coalition, Utility Air Regulatory Group, and Texas.

By Andrew Childers