{"ID":56026,"name":"Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA","href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/cases\/2013\/12-1146","view_count":0,"docket_number":"12-1146","additional_docket_numbers":["12-1152","12-1153","12-1253","12-1248","12-1254","12-1268","12-1269","12-1272"],"manner_of_jurisdiction":"Writ of \u003Ci\u003Ecertiorari\u003C\/i\u003E","first_party":"Utility Air Regulatory Group","second_party":"Environmental Protection Agency","timeline":[{"event":"Granted","dates":[1381813200],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/41370"},{"event":"Argued","dates":[1393221600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/52711"},{"event":"Decided","dates":[1403499600],"href":"https:\/\/api.oyez.org\/case_timeline\/case_timeline\/52712"}],"lower_court":null,"facts_of_the_case":"\u003Cp\u003EAfter the 2007 Supreme Court decision in \u003Cem\u003EMassachusetts v. EPA\u003C\/em\u003E that determined that air pollution was subject to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation under the Clean Air Act, the EPA set out a series of standards governing greenhouse gas emissions. One of these benchmarks set emission standards for vehicles, while another one required stationary sources of greenhouse gases to obtain constructing and operating permits from the EPA. The petitioners, who include various state and industry groups, challenged these rules on the grounds that they were based on an improper construction of the Clean Air Act and are arbitrary and capricious because they are based on an inadequate scientific record. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit dismissed the challenges.\u003C\/p\u003E\n","question":"\u003Cp\u003EDid the EPA permissibly determine that its regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles under the Clean Air Act also triggered permit requirements for stationary sources of greenhouse gas emissions?\u003C\/p\u003E\n","conclusion":"\u003Cp\u003ENo. Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion for the 9-0 member majority. The Court held that, while the \u003Cem\u003E Massachusetts\u003C\/em\u003E decision found that the Clean Air Act\u2019s general definition of \u201cair pollutant\u201d included greenhouse gas emissions, it does not require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to include greenhouse gas emissions every time the Act uses the term \u201cair pollutant.\u201d Instead, the EPA retains its ability to interpret the term in a context-appropriate way depending on where the term was being used. Because the inclusion of greenhouse gases as an \u201cair pollutant\u201d under the permitting scheme would compel the EPA to regulate tens of thousands of additional pollution emitters, it would not be reasonable for the EPA to interpret this specific instance of \u201cair pollution\u201d to include greenhouse gas emissions. Furthermore, even if the EPA were able to interpret this instance of \u201cair pollution\u201d to include greenhouse gases, the EPA lacks the authority to modify the threshold limits Congress dictated. Though the EPA overstepped its authority in trying to regulate greenhouse gases under this section of the Clean Air Act, the Court held that the EPA\u2019s decision was within the boundaries of the EPA\u2019s discretion.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EJustice Stephen G. Breyer wrote an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part in which he argued that the Clean Air Act\u2019s language regarding which pollution emitters are required to obtain permits should not be read to include all pollution emitters. This interpretation would solve the tension between the majority\u2019s position, which denies the ability of the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases in some cases, and the Court\u2019s decision in \u003Cem\u003EMassachusetts\u003C\/em\u003E, which explicitly held that greenhouse gases are subject to EPA regulation. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan joined the opinion. In his separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. argued that \u003Cem\u003EMasschusetts\u003C\/em\u003E had been wrongly decided and should be overturned. 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