ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20116
No(s). 21-3023 and 22-1012 (3d Cir. Jul 25, 2023)

The Third Circuit denied an environmental group's petitions to review EPA's approval of certain air pollution control technology use at industrial facilities in Pennsylvania. The group argued EPA violated the CAA by focusing exclusively on emissions from those facilities instead of examining their impact on air quality more generally, and that even if the Agency was permitted to base its approval on an emissions-only analysis, it incorrectly concluded emissions would not be increased by the technologies used. The court found it was not arbitrary and capricious for EPA to (1) use an emissions-based approach to analyze Pennsylvania's SIP and (2) use prior permitting standards, instead of reasonably available control technology, as the baseline for its comparative emissions analysis; but declined to review the group's claim that the Agency erroneously approved certain volatile organic compound control technology that releases nitrogen oxide emissions. It denied the group's petitions.