Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. Environmental Protection Agency case brief

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation v. Environmental Protection Agency case brief summary
540 U.S. 461 (2004)

CASE SYNOPSIS: Petitioner, a state environmental permitting agency, brought an action challenging the orders of respondent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prohibiting issuance of a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit and prohibiting the permittee from constructing improvements. Upon the grant of a writ of certiorari, the agency appealed the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which upheld the EPA orders.

CASE FACTS: The agency initially determined that a certain air pollution control measure was technically and economically feasible for a mine expansion, but the agency subsequently accepted the mine operator's less effective alternative measure as the best available control technology (BACT) in issuing the PSD permit to the operator. The EPA issued stop-orders on the ground that the agency's BACT determination was unreasonable, but the agency contended that EPA authority under 42 U.S.C.S. §§ 7413(a)(5), 7477 was limited to ensuring that the PSD permit contained a BACT determination.

DISCUSSION

• The United States Supreme Court held, however, that the EPA had supervisory authority over the reasonableness of the agency's BACT determination, and the EPA properly determined that the agency's BACT determination lacked evidentiary support. 
• The EPA option to seek judicial review of the agency's issuance of the permit did not preempt the authority of the EPA to issue the stop-orders, and the inconsistency of the agency findings concerning the economic feasibility of the most effective control measure furnished no tenable accounting for the agency's BACT determination.

CONCLUSION: The judgment upholding the EPA stop-orders was affirmed.