ELR Citation: ELR 20137
No(s). 07-1053 (D.C. Cir. Jun 6, 2008)

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 2006 national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for the synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry. Petitioners challenged EPA's residual risk rulemaking under the Clean Air Act (CAA) §112(f) as well as the Agency's technology review under §112(d)(6). As for the Agency's residual risk rulemaking, the court rejected petitioners' claim that the CAA required EPA to tighten the standards for the industry so that the lifetime excess cancer risk to exposed persons would be no greater than one-in-one million. CAA §112(f)(2)(A) merely calls for standards that "provide an ample margin of safety to protect public health," and no distinction is drawn between carcinogens and non-carcinogens. Nor was EPA required to completely recalculate the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) determination under CAA §112(d)(6). In addition, EPA's consideration of costs in arriving at the initial MACT floor did not "taint" its technology review since its reaffirmation of that standard in the final rulemaking was based on the lack of significant developments in technology. Last, EPA's use of data supplied by the industry to come to its conclusions was not arbitrary and capricious.