E.P.A. v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P.
| Citation | 188 L.Ed.2d 775,134 S.Ct. 1584,572 U.S. 489 |
| Decision Date | 29 April 2014 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 12–1182,12–1183.,s. 12–1182 |
| Parties | ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY et al., Petitioners v. EME HOMER CITY GENERATION, L.P., et al.; and American Lung Association et al., Petitioners v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P., et al. |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Michael J. Myers, Andrew G. Frank, Assistant Attorneys General, Environmental Protection Bureau, Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General of the State of New York, Barbara D. Underwood, Solicitor General, Steven C. Wu, Deputy Solicitor General, Claude S. Platton, Bethany A. Davis Noll, Assistant Solicitors General, New York, NY, George Jepsen, Attorney General, State of Connecticut, Hartford, CT, Joseph R. Biden, III, Attorney General, State of Delaware, Wilmington, DE, Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, State of Illinois, Chicago, IL, Douglas F. Gansler, Attorney General, State of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, Martha Coakley, Attorney General, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Boston, MA, Roy Cooper, Attorney General, State of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC, Peter F. Kilmartin, Attorney General, State of Rhode Island, Providence, RI, William H. Sorrell, Attorney General, State of Vermont, Montpelier, VT, Irvin B. Nathan, Attorney General, District of Columbia, Washington, DC, George A. Nilson, City Solicitor, City of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, Henrichsen Siegel, P.L.L.C., Washington, DC, Stephen R. Patton, Corporation Counsel, City of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Michael A. Cardozo, Corporation Counsel, City of New York, New York, NY, Shelley R. Smith, City Solicitor, City of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, for the States of New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, and the Cities
of Baltimore, Bridgeport, Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia as Respondents in Support of Petitioners.
James W. Rubin, Dentons US LLP, Washington, DC, for Calpine Corp.
Brendan K. Collins, Counsel of Record, Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., Lorene L. Boudreau, Ballard Spahr LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Exelon Corp.
F. William Brownell, Hunton & Williams LLP, Washington, DC, P. Stephen Gidiere III, Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham, AL, Peter D. Keisler, Counsel of Record, C. Frederick Beckner III, Roger R. Martella, Jr., Timothy K. Webster, Eric D. McArthur, Sidley Austin LLP, Washington, DC, for Luminant Generation Company LLC et al.
Bart E. Cassidy, Katherine L. Vaccaro, Diana A. Silva, Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP, Bala Cynwyd, PA, for ARIPPA.
Claudia M. O'Brien, Lori Alvino McGill, Jessica E. Phillips, Katherine I. Twomey, Stacey VanBelleghem, Latham & Watkins LLP, Washington, DC, for EME Homer City Generation, L.P.
Jeffrey L. Landsman, Vincent M. Mele, Wheeler, Van Sickle & Anderson, S.C., Madison, WI, for Dairyland Power Cooperative.
William M. Bumpers, Joshua B. Frank, Megan H. Berge, Baker Botts L.L.P., Washington, DC, for Entergy Corporation, Northern States Power Company–Minnesota, Southwestern Public Service Company, and Western Farmers Electric Cooperative.
Kelly M. McQueen, Assistant General Counsel, Little Rock, AR, for Entergy Corporation.
Dennis Lane, Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP, Washington, DC, Robert J. Alessi, DLA Piper LLP, Albany, NY, for Environmental Energy Alliance of New York, LLC.
David R. Tripp, Parthenia B. Evans, Stinson Morrison Hecker LLP, Kansas City, MO, for Kansas City Board of Public Utilities—Unified Government Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas Gas and Electric Co., Sunflower Electric Power Corp., and Westar Energy, Inc.
Maureen N. Harbourt, Tokesha M. Collins, Kean Miller LLP, Baton Rouge, LA, for the Lafayette Utilities System and Louisiana Chemical Association.
Ann M. Seha, Assistant General Counsel, Minneapolis, MN, for Northern States Power Company–Minnesota and Southwestern Public Service Company.
Michael J. Nasi, Jacob Arechiga, Jackson Walker L.L.P., Austin, TX, for San Miguel Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Grant Crandall, Arthur Traynor, III, United Mine Workers of America, Triangle, VA, Eugene M. Trisko, Law Offices of Eugene M. Trisko, Glenwood, MD, for United Mine Workers of America.
Richard G. Stoll, Foley & Lardner LLP, Washington, DC, Brian H. Potts, Foley & Lardner LLP, Madison, WI, for Wisconsin Public Service Corporation.
Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas, Daniel T. Hodge, First Assistant Attorney General, Jonathan F. Mitchell, Solicitor General, Andrew S. Oldham, Deputy Solicitor General, Bill Davis, Evan S. Greene, Richard B. Farrer, Assistant Solicitors General, Office of the Attorney General, Austin, TX, Luther J. Strange, III, Attorney General of Alabama, Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General of Florida, Samuel S. Olens, Attorney General of Georgia, Gregory F. Zoeller, Attorney General of Indiana, Derek Schmidt, Attorney General of Kansas, James D. "Buddy" Caldwell, Attorney General of Louisiana, Bill Schuette, Attorney General of Michigan, Jon Bruning, Attorney General of Nebraska, Mike DeWine, Attorney General of Ohio, Scott Pruitt, Attorney General of Oklahoma, Alan Wilson, Attorney General of South Carolina, Kenneth T. Cuccinelli, II, Attorney General of Virginia, J.B. Van Hollen, Attorney General of Wisconsin, for State and Local Respondents.
Leslie Sue Ritts, Alexandria, VA, for the City of Ames, Iowa.
Herman Robinson, Baton Rouge, LA, Executive Counsel of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.
David Richard Taggart, Shreveport, LA, for the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
Harold Edward Pizzetta, III, Jackson, MS, for the Mississippi Public Service Commission.
Henry V. Nickel, Washington, DC, for the Office of Public Utilities, City of Springfield, Illinois.
Norman W. Fichthorn, Andrea Bear Field, E. Carter Chandler Clements, Hunton & Williams LLP, for the Utility Air Regulatory Group.
Margaret Claiborne Campbell, Byron W. Kirkpatrick, Hahnah Williams Gaines, Troutman Sanders LLP, Atlanta, GA, for Georgia Power Company, Southern Company Services, Inc., and Southern Power Company.
Steven G. McKinney, Balch & Bingham LLP, Birmingham, AL, for Alabama Power Company.
Robert A. Manning, Hopping Green & Sams, Tallahassee, FL, for Gulf Power Company.
Terese T. Wyly, Balch & Bingham LLP, Gulfport, MS, for Mississippi Power Company.
Karl R. Moor, Julia A. Bailey Dulan, Birmingham, AL, for Southern Company Services, Inc.
Robert A. Manning, Joseph A. Brown, Mohammad O. Jazil, Hopping Green & Sams, Tallahassee, FL, for the Environmental Committee of the Florida Electric Power Coordinating Group.
David M. Flannery, Kathy G. Beckett, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, Charleston, WV, Gale Lea Rubrecht, Jackson Kelly PLLC, Charleston, WV, for the Midwest Ozone Group.
Peter S. Glaser, Troutman Sanders LLP, Washington, DC, for the National Mining Association and Peabody Energy Corporation.
William L. Wehrum, Hunton & Williams LLP, Washington, DC, for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
Avi Garbow, General Counsel, Sonja Rodman, Attorney, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., Solicitor General, Robert G. Dreher, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Malcolm L. Stewart, Deputy Solicitor General, Joseph R. Palmore, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Jon M. Lipshultz, Norman L. Rave, Jr., Attorneys, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for the Federal Petitioners.
Howard I. Fox, David S. Baron, Washington, DC, George E. Hays, San Francisco, CA, Sean H. Donahue, David T. Goldberg, Donahue & Goldberg, LLP, Washington DC, Pamela A. Campos, Graham G. McCahan, Vickie L. Patton, Environmental Defense Fund, Boulder, CO, Joshua Stebbins, Zachary M. Fabish, Washington DC, John D. Walke, Emily Davis, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC, David Marshall, Clean Air Task Force, Henniker, NH, for Petitioners.
These cases concern the efforts of Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) to cope with a complex problem: air pollution emitted in one State, but causing harm in other States. Left unregulated, the emitting or upwind State reaps the benefits of the economic activity causing the pollution without bearing all the costs. See Revesz, Federalism and Interstate Environmental Externalities, 144 U. Pa. L.Rev. 2341, 2343 (1996). Conversely, downwind States to which the pollution travels are unable to achieve clean air because of the influx of out-of-state pollution they lack authority to control. See S.Rep. No. 101–228, p. 49 (1989), 1990 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3385. To tackle the problem, Congress included a Good Neighbor Provision in the Clean Air Act (Act or CAA). That provision, in its current phrasing, instructs States to prohibit in-state sources "from emitting any air pollutant in amounts which will ... contribute significantly" to downwind States' "nonattainment ..., or interfere with maintenance," of any EPA-promulgated national air quality standard. 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(2)(D) (i).
Interpreting the Good Neighbor Provision, EPA adopted the Cross–State Air Pollution Rule (commonly and hereinafter called the Transport Rule). The rule calls for consideration of costs, among other factors, when determining the emission reductions an upwind State must make to improve air quality in polluted downwind areas. The Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated the rule in its entirety. It held, 2 to 1, that the Good Neighbor Provision requires EPA to consider only each upwind State's physically proportionate responsibility for each downwind State's air quality problem. That reading is demanded, according to the D.C. Circuit, so that no State will be required to decrease its emissions by more than its ratable share of downwind-state pollution.
In Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984), we reversed a D.C. Circuit decision that failed to accord deference to EPA's reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous Clean Air Act provision. Satisfied that...
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