Wildearth Guardians v. Gina McCarthy

Plaintiffs WildEarth Guardians, Midwest Environmental Defense Center, and Sierra Club are organizations dedicated to environmental conservation. They believe the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been derelict in its duty to protect the nation’s air from ground-level ozone pollution. They sued the EPA’s Administrator in federal district court, seeking an order that would force the Administrator to issue revised regulations governing ozone pollution.

Plaintiffs invoked the Clean Air Act’s citizen-suit provision, 42 U.S.C. § 7604 , as the sole basis for subject matter jurisdiction. That provision authorizes suits against the Administrator, but only for actions “where there is alleged a failure of the Administrator to perform any act or duty under this chapter which is not discretionary with the Administrator.” § 7604(a)(2) (emphasis added). Plaintiffs contend the Administrator has a nondiscretionary duty to issue revised ozone regulations under § 166(a) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7476 (a). The district court held that the statute permits, but does not require, the Administrator to issue such regulations and therefore dismissed plaintiffs’ claim for lack of…