Northern Plains Resource Council v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

645 F.2d 1349 16 ERC 1790 , 11 Envtl. L. Rep. 20 ,635 NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL, Petitioner, v. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, Respondent. The Montana Power Company, the Washington Water Power Company, Puget Sound Power and Light Company, Portland General Electric Company, and Pacific Power and Light Company, Intervenors. No. 79-7618. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted Nov. 19, 1980. Decided May 26, 1981. James A. Patten, Billings, Mont., for petitioner. Elizabeth Stein, Washington, D. C., for respondent. Appeal from a decision by the Environmental Protection Agency. Before TANG, SCHROEDER and NELSON, Circuit Judges. NELSON, Circuit Judge: 1 Petitioner, Northern Plains Resource Council (the "Council"), 1 seeks a review of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ("EPA") decision 2 conditionally granting a "prevention of significant deterioration of air quality" (PSD) permit, as required by the Clean Air Act 3 and by EPA regulations, 4 to a consortium of investor-owned utilities (the "Consortium") 5 for two coal-fired electric power plants under construction at Colstrip, Montana ("Colstrip Units Nos. 3 and 4"). Two rather…