ELR Citation: 45 ELR 20185
No(s). 14-3147 (3d Cir. Sep 29, 2015)

The Third Circuit vacated and remanded EPA's approval of Pennsylvania's 2014 regional haze SIP. CAA §169A requires states to evaluate the impact that emissions from certain sources of pollution within their borders have on atmospheric visibility in national parks and wilderness areas, known as Class I areas. Section 169A also requires each SIP to include a determination of the best available retrofit technology (BART) for certain major stationary sources of pollution that are reasonably anticipated to cause or contribute to visibility impairment in any Class I area. As part of its source-specific BART analysis, Pennsylvania was required to calculate the visibility improvement that could be achieved in Class I areas through additional pollution controls at its BART-eligible sources. Here, Pennsylvania concluded that no additional pollution controls were required at 34 BART-eligible sources given the low visibility impact of the sources and the high cost of implementing the controls. EPA admitted in the final SIP rule that Pennsylvania should have calculated the cumulative visibility impact from its sources. The final rule also criticized Pennsylvania's SIP calculations and supporting documentation, noting that the SIP is so lacking that it is difficult to assess the visibility impact calculations Pennsylvania did conduct. Yet, EPA failed to explain why it could overlook these flaws in its approval. Given the multiple flaws in Pennsylvania's BART analysis and EPA's insufficient explanation, the court vacated and remanded the 2014 rule to the extent it approved Pennsylvania's source-specific BART analysis.