ELR Citation: ELR 20287
No(s). 08-1381 (D.C. Cir. Dec 11, 2009)

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review of two EPA regulations implementing CAA §209(e), which prohibits states from imposing certain emissions-related regulations on various categories of engines and vehicles. CAA §307(b)(1) provides a 60-day window for challenging EPA regulations, and the group filed suit within 60 days of EPA's decision rejecting their petition for rule amendments. But in National Mining Association v. U.S. Department of the Interior, 70 F.3d 1345 (D.C. Cir. 1995), the court held that an agency's denial of a revision-seeking petition does not allow review of alleged substantive defects in the original rule outside the statutory limitations period running from the rules' original promulgation. Here, the rules were promulgated in 1997. The suit, therefore, is time barred.