Decision to Know: Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency

Abstract

Based upon its finding that greenhouse gases (GHGs) were air pollutants subject to regulation under Title II of the Clean Air Act, which governs motor vehicle emissions, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that emissions of GHGs from stationary sources of pollution, such as power plants, regulated under Titles I and V of the act, should be subject to similar GHG regulation. Because GHGs are emitted from stationary pollution sources at much higher rates than other air pollutants regulated by the act, and because precise application of the act’s provisions against GHG‐emitting stationary sources would have a profoundly short‐term effect on the U.S. economy and administrative agencies, the EPA created a “Tailoring Rule” to phase in the regulation of GHGs under the act.