Engine Mfrs. Ass'n v. South Coast Air Quality

• Decision Date: 22 August 2001
• Docket Number: No. CV 00-09065FMC(BQRx).,CV 00-09065FMC(BQRx).
• Citation: 158 F.Supp.2d 1107
• Court: U.S. District Court — Central District of California
• Parties: ENGINE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, v. SOUTH COAST AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ("SCAQMD"), et al., Defendants. Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for Clean Air, Inc., Communities for A Better Environment, Inc., Planning and Conservation League, and Sierra Club, Intervenors. Western States Petroleum Association, Intervenor.

Page 1107

158 F.Supp.2d 1107

ENGINE MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION, Plaintiff, v. SOUTH COAST AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT ("SCAQMD"), et al., Defendants.

Natural Resources Defense Council, Coalition for Clean Air, Inc., Communities for A Better Environment, Inc., Planning and Conservation League, and Sierra Club, Intervenors.

Western States Petroleum Association, Intervenor.

No. CV 00-09065FMC(BQRx).

United States District Court, C.D. California.

August 22, 2001.

Ward L. Benshoof, Ann M. Martorano, Weston Benshoof Rochefort, Rubalcava & MacCuish, Los Angeles, CA, Jed R. Mandel, Timothy A. French, Neal Gerber & Eisenberg, Chicago, IL, for Engine Manufacturers Association.

Teresa A. Beaudet, Jerome M. Jauffret, Gregory R. McClintock, Mayer Brown & Platt, Los Angeles, CA, for Western States Petroleum Association.

Fran M. Layton, Shute Mihaly & Weinberger, San Francisco, CA, Barbara B Baird, Kurt R Wiese, South Coast Air Quality, Management District, Diamond Bar, Daniel P. Selmi, Daniel P. Selmi Law Offices, Los Angeles, CA, for South Coast Air Quality Management District, "SCAQMD", William A. Burke, SCAQMD Board Chairman, Norma J. Glover, SCAQMD Vice-Chairman, Michael D. Antonovich, SCAQMD Board Member, Hal Bernson, SCAQMD Board Member, Jane W Carney, SCAQMD Board Member, Cynthia P. Coad, SCAQMD Board Member, Beatrice J. S. Lapistokirtley, SCAQMD Board Member, Ronald O. Loveridge, SCAQMD Board Member, Jon D. Mikels, SCAQMD Board Member, Leonard Paulitz, SCAQMD Board Member, Cynthia Verdugo-Peralta, SCAQMD Board Member, S. Roy Wilson, SCAQMD Board Member, Barry R Wallerstein, SCAQMD Executive Officer.

Gail Ruderman Feuer, Julie Masters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Los Angeles, CA, for Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., Coalition for Clean Air Inc, Communities for a Better Environment, Inc., Planning and Conservation League, Sierra Club.

ORDER RE CROSS MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

COOPER, District Judge.

I. Background

A. The Parties

Plaintiff Engine Manufacturers Association ("EMA") is the not-for-profit trade association representing the leading manufacturers of internal combustion engines used in most all medium-duty and heavy-duty motor vehicles, other than passenger cars. EMA members manufacture the medium-duty and heavy-duty compression-ignition, diesel-fueled engines that are installed in certain pickup trucks and sports-utility vehicles, delivery vans, shuttle vans, and cargo vehicles, trucks, tractor-trailers, waste haulers, street-sweepers and buses, and sold throughout the United States.

Plaintiff-in-Intervention Western States Petroleum Association ("WSPA") is a trade association organized as a nonprofit corporation under California law. Its members consist of companies engaged in the exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing of crude oil and petroleum products, including diesel fuel.

Defendant South Coast Air Quality Management District ("SCAQMD") is the

air quality management district established under the California Health and Safety Code to develop and implement a strategy for achieving and maintaining ambient air quality standards within the South Coast Air Basin. Agents of the SCAMQD, including the SCAMQD Defendants,¹ are responsible for administering the Fleet Rules at issue.

Defendants-in-Intervention "Environmental Intervenors" are non-profit organizations² dedicated to the protection of the environment and public health.

California Attorney General Bill Lockyer submitted an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the State of California in support of the SCAQMD's motion for summary judgment and in opposition to the cross-motions for summary judgment filed by EMA and WSPA.

B. The South Coast Air Basin

The South Coast Air Basin ("the Basin"), which includes Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange Counties, experiences the most serious air quality problems in the nation, primarily due to motor vehicle pollution. (Staff Report ("SR") 1191-1, p. 7439) It is the only air basin in the country classified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency ("E.P.A.") as an extreme nonattainment area. See 42 U.S.C. § 7511(a). On-road motor vehicles contribute more than one-half of the ozone precursors emitted in the Basin and are a principal source of toxic pollution. (Administrative Record ("AR") 57 R-6252)

Emission of particulate matter from diesel vehicles and equipment is the most significant individual toxic air pollutant in the Basin, accounting for fully seventy-one percent (71%) of the air-borne cancer risk. (AR 57 R-6258) The California Air Resources Board ("CARB") has formally designated particulate emissions from diesel-fueled vehicles as a Toxic Air Contaminant. Studies reveal that exposure to diesel exhaust increases the risk of developing lung cancer and other non-cancer adverse health effects. (AR 41 R-1840) Diesel exhaust has also long been considered a probable human carcinogen by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. (AR 41 R-1841)

Diesel trucks and buses are also significant contributors to smog and fine particles, two pollutants that have serious public health impacts. On-road motor vehicles contribute more than half of all smogforming hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen in the entire emissions inventory. (SR 1191-1, p. 7439). More than ninety-percent (90%) of the particles emitted from diesel engines are fine particles. (AR 54 R-5514-5515) Fine particles are particularly hazardous because they can bypass respiratory defense mechanisms and penetrate deeply into the lungs. (AR 20 R-5783) The presence of high quantities of fine particles in the air has been shown to lead to higher mortality rates, greater occurrences and severity of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and potentially to a higher incidence of cancer. (AR 39 R-1325)

C. Legislative Background

1. The Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401-7671q ("CAA"), "is one of the most comprehensive pieces of legislation in our nation's history." Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n v. New York State Dep't of Envtl. Conservation, 17 F.3d 521, 524 (2d Cir.1994). The CAA makes "the States and the Federal Government partners in the struggle against air pollution." General Motors Corp. v. U.S., 496 U.S. 530, 532, 110 S.Ct. 2528, 110 L.Ed.2d 480 (1990). A primary purpose of the CAA is "to encourage or otherwise promote reasonable Federal, State, and local governmental actions, consistent with the provisions of this chapter, for pollution prevention." 42 U.S.C. § 7401(c). Additionally, Congress envisioned the CAA as a means of encouraging and assisting "the development and operation of regional air pollution prevention and control programs." 42 U.S.C. § 7401(b)(4).

The CAA directs the E.P.A. to establish and enforce national ambient air quality standards ("NAAQS") for pollutants that "cause or contribute to air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." 42 U.S.C. § 7408(a). To achieve and maintain these NAAQS by regulating sources of air pollution, each state is required to submit a state implementation plan ("SIP") to the EPA for approval. CAA § 110, 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(1). However, states may not promulgate individual motor vehicle emission standards to attain the NAAQS set by the EPA. Section 209(a) expressly preempts all state regulation of motor vehicle emissions. Congress preempted the field of vehicle emission regulation for two reasons: "to ensure uniformity throughout the nation, and to avoid the undue burden on motor vehicle manufacturers which would result from different state standards." Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass'n v. New York State Dep't. of Envtl. Conservation, 810 F.Supp. 1331, 1337 (N.D.N.Y.1993), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 17 F.3d 521 (2d Cir.1994).

"Both the history and text of the [CAA] show that the ... preemption section was made not to hamstring localities in their fight against air pollution but to prevent the burden on interstate commerce which would result if, instead of uniform standards, every state and locality were left free to impose different standards for exhaust emission control devices for the manufacture and sale of new cars."

Allway Taxi, Inc. v. City of New York, 340 F.Supp. 1120, 1124 (S.D.N.Y.1972).

2. Preemption

The United States Supreme Court has given substantial weight in the preemption analysis to evidence that Congress intended to preserve the state regulatory authority, stating that courts must "give full effect to evidence that Congress considered, and sought to preserve, the States' coordinate regulatory role in our federal scheme." California v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n, 495 U.S. 490, 497, 110 S.Ct. 2024, 109 L.Ed.2d 474 (1990). Moreover, the Supreme Court has cautioned that preemption provisions must be narrowly and strictly construed. See Kelly v. Robinson, 479 U.S. 36, 43, 107 S.Ct. 353, 93 L.Ed.2d 216 (1986); see also Charas v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 160 F.3d 1259, 1265 (9th Cir.1998); Chrysler Corp. v. Tofany, 419 F.2d 499, 511 (2d Cir.1969) (where exercise of local police power serves the purpose of a federal Act, the preemptive effect of that Act should be narrowly construed).

The Clean Air Act explicitly protects the authority of states to regulate air pollution. The first section of the CAA, entitled "Congressional Findings", 42 U.S.C. § 7401, makes clear that the states retain the leading authority in regulating matters of health and air quality: "air pollution prevention (that is, the reduction or elimination, through any measures, of the amount of pollutants produced or created at the source) and air pollution control at its source is the primary responsibility of States and local governments." 42 U.S.C. § 7401(a)(3). Similarly, 42 U.S.C. § 7407, which focuses on SIPs, provides: "Each state shall have the primary responsibility for assuring air quality within the entire geographic area...