Safe Air for Everyone v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

The Clean Air Act (“CAA” or “the Act”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 7401 -7671q, authorizes the creation of air quality standards for a num ber of pollutants, including particulate matter produced as a byproduct of burning. To implement these standards, the Act establishes a system of State Implementation Plans (“SIPs”), whereby states submit, subject to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) review and approval, proposed methods for maintaining air quality. Once approved by EPA these plans “[h]av[e] ‘the force and effect of federal law.’ ” Trs. for Alaska v. Fink, 17 F.3d 1209 , 1210 n. 3 (9th Cir.1994) (quoting Union Elec. Co. v. EPA, 515 F.2d 206, 211 (8th Cir.1975), aff'd, 427 U.S. 246 , 96 S.Ct. 2518 , 49 L.Ed.2d 474 (1976)).

In this case, we are presented with a preexisting SIP containing language that prohibits open burning generally and contains no exception allowing farmers to burn the residue left in their fields after harvesting them crops. Petitioner, Safe Air for Everyone (“SAFE”), challenges EPA’s decision to approve an amendment to that SIP authorizing such burning. SAFE argues that certain CAA provisions which prohibit amending SIPs so that they interfere…