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On Dec. 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
reinstated the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which it had vacated in July (State
of North Carolina v. EPA). While the court did not back off from its
stance that "CAIR's flaws are deep," after hearing petitions from both
environmentalist groups and industry, the court reversed itself, left the rule
in place for the time being, and remanded it to EPA to be fixed.
The court conceded that the agency had adopted CAIR as an "integral action" and became convinced that "notwithstanding the relative flaws of CAIR, allowing CAIR to remain in effect until it is replaced by a rule consistent with our opinion would at least temporarily preserve the environmental values covered by CAIR."
According to Business & Legal Reports, because the Obama administration will now be the ones to make the changes, industry can expect even tighter emissions controls.
The court did not impose a deadline by which the agency must correct CAIR’s flaws, but did note that the agency's time was limited.
The court conceded that the agency had adopted CAIR as an "integral action" and became convinced that "notwithstanding the relative flaws of CAIR, allowing CAIR to remain in effect until it is replaced by a rule consistent with our opinion would at least temporarily preserve the environmental values covered by CAIR."
According to Business & Legal Reports, because the Obama administration will now be the ones to make the changes, industry can expect even tighter emissions controls.
The court did not impose a deadline by which the agency must correct CAIR’s flaws, but did note that the agency's time was limited.
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