Appeals Court Upholds Ozone and PM NAAQS, March 2002
The U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld health protective standards for ozone and particulate matter, clearing the way for EPA to implement the standards.
The Court of Appeals considered challenges to the technical adequacy of EPA’s ozone and fine particle standards that remained after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected constitutional challenges in a decision issued on February 27, 2001.
In addressing the industry challenge that the scientific information justifying the standard is too uncertain, the Court of Appeals stated, “The Act requires EPA to promulgate protective primary NAAQS even where, as here, the pollutant’s risks cannot be quantified or ‘precisely identified as to nature or degree’.”
In addition, the Court rejected a plea by environmentalists to strike down the 24-hour PM2.5 standard as too lenient to protect public health.
The Court’s decision means that all legal challenges have been considered and that EPA is now free to implement the standards.
The Court of Appeals offers the opinion online.
