Clean Air Grab Bag

There have been so many developments recently on the air front (and I'm so far behind due to an appellate brief) that I thought I would combine a few recent items.

First, oral arguments were heard Monday on the challenges to the Bush EPA ozone NAAQS of 0.075 ppb.  As I have previously noted, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has made pretty plain that EPA cannot ignore the recommendations of the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee in setting the NAAQS. Monday's argument confirmed that view, with Judges Tatel and Griffith both posing tough questions to EPA regarding how it could ignore the CASAC recommendation. Perhaps the most interesting issue to follow will be EPA's effort to persuade the Court that the CASAC recommendation was not purely based on science, but was also a policy recommendation, on which EPA has the final say. I'm skeptical that the Court will buy that argument.