ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20251
No(s). 12-16797 (9th Cir. Dec 1, 2014)

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's citizen suit requesting EPA to issue more stringent regulations for ozone pollution under the PSD program. The group alleged that the EPA Administrator has a nondiscretionary duty to issue revised ozone regulations under CAA §166(a), which requires the Agency to issue regulations implementing the PSD program to prevent air quality from significantly deteriorating in areas that already have relatively clean air. CAA §304(a)(2) authorizes citizen suits against the Administrator only for nondiscretionary duties. Here, the existence of a nondiscretionary duty to promulgate revised PSD regulations for ozone is not readily ascertainable. While the statue may permit the Administrator to revise the regulations, it does not require the Administrator to do so. The lower court, therefore, properly dismissed the suit for lack of jurisdiction.