Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., a Non-Profit New York Corporation v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

Petitioners, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC), a nonprofit corporation, the Arizona Nurses’ Association, also a nonprofit corporation, and Dr. Richard Abbuhl, individually, challenge the approval by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of various portions of the implementation plan submitted by the State of Arizona under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970, 42 U.S.C. § 1857 et seq. (the Act). This court’s jurisdiction to entertain the challenge is founded upon Section 307(b)(1) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1857h-5(b)(l).

The federal-state cooperative scheme of the Act has been well described elsewhere. For present purposes, it is necessary only to reiterate briefly that the Act charges the EPA with responsibility for setting national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards, and imposes upon the EPA the duty of ensuring that the implementation plans of the various states provide for both the attainment of these standards within the statutorily prescribed time periods and the maintenance of these levels thereafter. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1857c — 4, 1857c-5. Petitioners contend that the EPA has breached this duty by approving those elements of the…