350 Seattle v. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency

The Washington Court of Appeals ruled that environmental groups did not have standing to challenge clean air agencies’ delegations of authority to approve new sources of air pollution from the agencies’ boards of directors to professional staff. The groups contended that emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants would decrease if directors rather than staff reviewed applications because directors would be more responsive to constituents’ concerns. The appellate court found that the groups did not establish the three-part standing test for procedural harm and did not have taxpayer standing. The court also found that although climate change was “unquestionably of serious importance and great public interest,” the case did not meet “the high standard for allowing judicial review absent standing.”

Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in Washington Superior Court alleging that local clean air agencies were unlawfully shifting decision-making authority for new source approval from their boards of directors to technical staff and treating such approvals as ministerial decisions. The plaintiffs alleged that the effect of these actions was to undermine the Washington State Clean Air Act’s “ability to protect the public health of Washington residents and the State’s ability to achieve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets.”