ELR Citation: ELR 20181
No(s). s. 04-72650, -72736 (9th Cir. Sep 6, 2005)

The court upholds the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) approval of the 2003 San Joaquin Valley, California, plan to attain national ambient air quality standards for particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10). In approving the plan, the Agency set a new attainment deadline of 2010. Various groups and nonprofit organizations challenged EPA's authority to set a deadline past 2006. But Clean Air Act (CAA) §179(d) authorizes EPA to approve of plan revisions that set forth a new attainment date up to 10 years from the time that EPA has found that the area failed to attain the applicable air quality standard. Here, EPA published notice of the valley's failure to attain the PM10 standard in July 2002. Thus, the 2010 deadline is authorized under the CAA. And because the groups' remaining claims did not warrant judicial intervention, the court upheld the approval.