ELR Citation: 43 ELR 20113
No(s). 12-1129 (D.C. Cir. May 28, 2013)

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's revised NESHAPs for secondary lead smelting facilities. In 2012, acting pursuant to CAA §§112(d)(6) and 112(f)(2), EPA revised the 1995 emissions standards for secondary lead smelting facilities, reducing allowable emissions by 90% and requiring smelters to totally enclose certain "fugitive" emission sources. Industry groups argued that rule impermissibly regulates elemental lead as a hazardous air pollutant (HAP). But the rule sets HAP emissions standards at levels designed to attain the primary lead NAAQS, not the converse. The rule in no way alters the NAAQS itself: it does not change the NAAQS level, impose an earlier NAAQS attainment date, or modify state implementation plans. The industry petitioners also lacked standing to challenge EPA's methodology for estimating fugitive emissions at secondary lead smelting facilities, and their claim that the rule's continuous emissions monitoring systems requirement is arbitrary and capricious was premature. In addition, the court rejected environmental groups' claims that when EPA revises emissions standards under §112(d)(6), it must recalculate the maximum achievable control technology in accordance with §§112(d)(2) and (d)(3). Nor did EPA act arbitrarily and capriciously when it decided not to impose more stringent emissions standards based on certain technological developments—namely, high efficiency particulate air filters and wet electrostatic precipitators. EPA reasonably explained that further reductions were unwarranted due to concerns about the feasibility, utility, cost-effectiveness, and adverse collateral environmental impacts associated with this technology.