Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Environmental Protection Agency
Opinions
ORDER
These causes came on for consideration of petitioners’ motion for summary reversal, and the court heard argument of counsel. We must initially determine whether we have jurisdiction over all of these consolidated cases. Section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1857h-5(b)(1) (1970), provides that a petition for review of the Administrator’s action in approving or promulgating any implementation plan “may be filed only in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit.” We agree with petitioners and with the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, see Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Environmental Protection Agency, 1 Cir., 465 F.2d 492 (1972), that by the phrase “the appropriate circuit” Congress did not intend that all suits involving approval of state implementation plans be brought in the judicial circuit where the state is located. Instead, Congress intended to adopt a flexible approach to determine which circuit is appropriate, and application of this approach to the facts of these cases and the legal issues we are presently called upon to decide permits us to hear all of these consolidated cases.
First, elsewhere in the Act, in a provision concerning judicial review of another kind of action by the Administrator, Congress expressly provided that judicial review shall be in the “court of appeals for the circuit which includes such State.” See Section 110(f)(2)(B), 42 U.S.C. § 1857c-5(f) (2) (B). That it did not use the same language in Section 307(b)(1) and instead used the vague phrase “the appropriate circuit” indicates that Congress intended the latter phrase to mean something other than the more specific review provision in Section 110(f)(2)(B). Secondly, we might note that failure to interpret Section 307(b)(1) in a flexible manner would produce some anomalous results. The Administrator has informed us that implementation plans in several metropolitan areas cover jurisdictions falling within several circuits. In our own metropolitan area of the District of Columbia and the surrounding Virginia and Maryland suburbs, for example, adoption of the Administrator’s narrow interpretation of the statute would require review of the Administrator’s approval of the D. C. metropolitan area implementation plans to take place in both our own court and the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. We doubt that Congress intended such a result, especially in light of the indication elsewhere in the Act of a strong congressional concern for coordinated decision-making with respect to metropolitan areas cross[386] ing over several jurisdictions. See 42 U.S.C. §§ 1857c-l, 1857c-2.
Applying this flexible approach to the cases presently before us, it is clear from the record that all of these cases raise identical legal issues. None of these issues involve facts or laws peculiar to any one jurisdiction; rather, all concern uniform determinations of nationwide effect made by the Administrator. Requiring these cases to be prosecuted in the several circuits will only lead to delay on a question where time is literally of the essence, and will needlessly tax the agency’s legal resources. We therefore hold that we have jurisdiction to hear these cases.
We also note, before considering the merits, that regardless of whether this court has jurisdiction to review the approval of implementation plans of jurisdictions other than the District of Columbia, all parties agree that we have jurisdiction to review the legality of the Administrator’s approval of the implementation plan for the District of Columbia and surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs, and should our jurisdiction as to other areas successfully be challenged, our order is intended to remain in force limited to the local area.
Turning to the merits, we find that the Administrator acted in the best of faith in attempting to comply with the difficult responsibilities imposed on him by Congress. Nevertheless, he did not conform to the strict requirements of the Clean Air Act of 1970 in permitting several states to delay submission of transportation control portions of their implementation plans until February 15, 1973, and in granting extensions until mid-1977 for attainment of the national primary ambient air standard without following the procedures established in Section 110(e), 42 U.S.C. § 1857c-5(e). The combined effect of these unlawful actions has been to interfere with the congressional purpose of attaining clean air by a date certain, May 31, 1975, subject only to certain limited and well defined statutory extensions. The Act plainly does not permit extensions of the statutory time for submission by each state of an implementation plan which will permit attainment of the standards by 1975. Whether or not the technology for implementation of or compliance with the plan is available is a matter for the grant of extensions under Sections 110(e) and (f) after the plan is filed.
In order to remedy these violations of the Act, the Administrator and the states must return to the procedures and the timetable established by the Congress.
Accordingly, it is ordered by this court that:
(1) The Administrator shall formally rescind, through notice to the states and through publication in the Federal Register, the February 15, 1973 extension granted to several states to submit the transportation control portions of their implementation plans.
(2) The Administrator shall formally rescind, through notice to the states and through publication in the Federal Register, the extension granted to several states to delay implementation of their plans or portions thereof until May 31, 1977.
(3) The Administrator shall inform all states concerned,
Footnotes
475 F.2d 968 (Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Environmental Protection Agency) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.