Sierra Club v. United States Environmental Protection Agency

Sierra Club and several environmental groups, (collectively, “Petitioners”), petition for review of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) approval of the 2004 State Implementation Plan (“2004 SIP”) for the San Joaquin Valley’s nonattainment area for the one-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (“NAAQS”). Petitioners contend that 1) EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously, in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”), by approving the 2004 SIP knowing that the emissions inventory data on which the plan relied were, as an actual matter, outdated and inaccurate by the time EPA approved the plan in 2010; 2) EPA violated the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) by approving the 2004 SIP because the emissions inventory data on which it relied were outdated and inaccurate within the meaning of the statute; 3) EPA violated the CAA by approving the 2004 SIP without the inclusion of the State-adopted regulations on which the plan relied; and 4) EPA violated the CAA by approving the 2004 SIP knowing that attainment of the one-hour ozone NAAQS by the 2010 deadline was impossible. We have jurisdiction to review EPA’s action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 7607…