American Coatings Ass'n v. South Coast Air Quality Management District

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (District) is charged with regulating nonvehicular air pollution emissions in a large area that encompasses much of Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California, regions that have some of the worst air pollution in the country. This case concerns the District’s 2002 amendments to its “Rule 1113,” which limits certain pollution-causing substances in paints and coatings. The American Coatings Association (Association), formerly known as the National Paint and Coatings Association, challenged the amendments on the ground that they exceeded the District’s regulatory authority under statutes requiring the use of “best available retrofit control technology.” According to the Association, the District failed to show that technology necessary to meet the emissions limits set by the 2002 amendments was “available” within the meaning of the relevant statutes.

The Association adopts the position of the Court of Appeal below that a technology cannot be considered “available” unless it already exists or is ready to be assembled at the time a pollution standard is promulgated. The District contends that the relevant statute, which…