Sherwin-Williams
Sherwin-Williams Co. v. South Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist.
Opinion
Opinion
Nott, J.
One of Southern California’s major assets is having an outstanding climate. However, everything in life seems to come with a price tag. The great fortune in having such good weather has encouraged a large population dependent on fossil fuel-based transportation and a variety of industrial and business operations that emit airborne pollutants. Those factors have been a major cause of unhealthy air quality in many parts of Southern California.
Architectural coatings, such as paints containing certain ingredients, have been found to substantially contribute to air pollution. As a result, various federal, state and local government agencies have undertaken to control the use of environmentally harmful architectural coatings.
The present case involves the action by a local agency to promulgate rules to gradually reduce the use of flat paint containing components that pollute the air. Some members of the paint industry have challenged a recent amendment to those rules as being improperly enacted.
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