AIR ALLIANCE HOUSTON v. E.P.A.

No. 17-1155 Consolidated with 17-1181.

906 F.3d 1049 (2018)

AIR ALLIANCE HOUSTON, et al., Petitioners v. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY and Andrew Wheeler, Acting Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Respondents. United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, AFL-CIO-CLC, et al., Intervenors.

United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit.

Decided August 17, 2018.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Steven C. Wu , Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of New York, argued the cause for State Petitioners. With him on the briefs were Eric T. Schneiderman , Attorney General, Barbara D. Underwood , Solicitor General, David S. Frankel , Assistant Solicitor General, Michael J. Myers , Assistant Attorney General, Ellen F. Rosenblum , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Oregon, Paul Garrahan , Attorney-in-Charge, Peter F. Kilmartin , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Rhode Island, Gregory S. Schultz , Special Assistant Attorney General, Thomas J. Donovan, Jr. , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Vermont, Nicholas F. Persampieri , Assistant Attorney General, Lisa Madigan , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Illinois, Matthew J. Dunn , Gerald T. Karr , James P. Gignac , Assistant Attorneys General, Tom Miller , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Iowa, Jacob Larson , Assistant Attorney General, Janet T. Mills , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maine, Gerald D. Reid , Natural Resources Division Chief, Robert W. Ferguson , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Washington, William R. Sherman , Assistant Attorney General, Brian E. Frosh , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland, Steven M. Sullivan , Solicitor General, Maura Healey , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Christophe Courchesne , Assistant Attorney General, Hector H. Balderas , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of New Mexico, and William Grantham , Assistant Attorney General.

Emma C. Cheuse and Susan J. Eckert argued the cause for Community Petitioners and Petitioner-Intervenor. With them on the briefs were Gordon E. Sommers and Joseph M. Santarella, Jr. .

Scott L. Nelson and Allison M. Zieve were on the brief for amici curiae Former Regulatory Officials in support of petitioners and vacatur.

Richard L. Revesz , Bethany A. Davis Noll , Denise A. Grab , and Jason A. Schwartz were on the brief for amicus curiae Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law in support of petitioners.

Jonathan Brightbill , Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Jeffrey H. Wood , Acting Assistant Attorney General, Stephanie J. Talbert , Attorney, and Brian Doster , Assistant General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Shannon S. Broome argued the cause for intervenor Chemical Safety Advocacy Group, et al. With her on the brief were C. Frederick Beckner III , Justin A. Savage , Ryan C. Morris , Kurt A. Johnson , Charles H. Knauss , Peter Tolsdorf , Steven P. Lehotsky , Michael B. Schon , Leslie A. Hulse , and Richard S. Moskowitz .

Elizabeth B. Murrill , Solicitor General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Louisiana, argued the cause for intervenor State of Louisiana. With her on the brief were Jeff Landry , Attorney General, Michelle M. White , Assistant Solicitor General, Leslie Rutledge , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Arkansas, Lee Rudofsky , Solicitor General, Nicholas J. Bronni , Deputy Solicitor General, Derek Schmidt , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Kansas, Jeffrey A. Chanay , Chief Deputy Attorney General, Bryan C. Clark , Assistant Solicitor General, Mark Brnovich , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Arizona, Dominic E. Draye , Solicitor General, Pamela Jo Bondi , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Florida, Edward M. Wenger , Chief Deputy Solicitor General, Mike Hunter , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma, Mithun Maninghani , Solicitor General, Ken Paxton , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General of the State of Texas, Scott A. Keller , Solicitor General, Patrick Morrisey , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of West Virginia, Erica N. Peterson , Deputy Solicitor General, S. Chad Meredith , Deputy General Counsel, Office of the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Alan Wilson , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of South Carolina, James Emory Smith, Jr. , Deputy Solicitor General, Sean Reyes , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Utah, Tyler R. Green , Solicitor General, Brad Schimel , Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin, and Misha Tseytlin , Solicitor General. Paul A. Martin , Chief Deputy Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of West Virginia, Harry J. Vorhoff , Assistant Attorney General, Office of the Attorney General for the State of Louisiana, and Jonathan L. Williams entered appearances.

Opinion for the court filed Per Curiam.


This appeal presents the question whether the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") had authority under Sections 307(d)(7)(B) and 112(r)(7) of the Clean Air Act ("CAA"), 42 U.S.C. §§ 7607(d)(7)(B), 7412(r)(7), to delay the effective date of the Chemical Disaster Rule of January 13, 2017...

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