ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20160
No(s). 12-71523 (9th Cir. Jul 17, 2014)

The Ninth Circuit upheld EPA's approval of Nevada's SIP for regional haze. In the SIP, Nevada provided reasonable progress goals for attaining natural visibility conditions at the Jarbridge Wilderness Area in remote northeastern Nevada, the state’s only Class I federal area. The SIP further requires limitations on emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter for several pollution sources, including a coal-fired power plant in southern Nevada. An environmental group filed a petition for review challenging EPA's approval, claiming that the SIP was inadequate and that EPA should have instead developed its own federal implementation plan. But the group lacked Article III standing to challenge EPA’s approval of the SIP’s formulation of reasonable progress goals for improving visibility conditions in the Jarbridge Wilderness Area. Even assuming that concerns about emissions establish an injury in fact, they failed to satisfy the traceability and redressability requirements of Article III. And while the group has standing to challenge EPA's decision to approve Nevada’s SO2 best available retrofit technology (BART) determination for the coal-fired power plant, EPA’s decision was not arbitrary and capricious. The record shows that Nevada conducted the required SO2 BART analysis for the plant, the group failed to show that the SIP will exacerbate pollution at the plant, and EPA's approval is entitled to considerable deference. And EPA's failure to make an express finding that the SIP does not interfere with the attainment or maintenance of the NAAQS does not violate CAA §110(l). Even assuming that §110(l) applies here, the group identified nothing in the SIP that weakens or removes any pollution controls.