Helping Hand Tools v. EPA

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EPA and the permittee for a biomass-fired power plant in California urged the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals not to grant a rehearing of its opinion upholding the plant’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit. The Ninth Circuit had deferred to EPA’s application of its Guidance for Determining Best Available Control Technology for Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Bioenergy Production (Bioenergy BACT Guidance) and had also found that EPA reasonably concluded that the Clean Air Act did not require consideration of solar power and a greater natural gas mix as control alternatives at the facility. EPA said the “core” of the Center for Biological Diversity’s (CBD’s) petition for rehearing was “little more than a rehashing of its merits arguments” and that CBD’s arguments misconstrued EPA’s conclusions regarding the carbon dioxide contributions of different types of feedstocks. EPA also said that modification of the Ninth Circuit’s opinion’s statements about the Bioenergy BACT Guidance was not warranted.

In opposition to the Center for Biological Diversity's (CBD's) petition for rehearing, the permittee argued that the Ninth Circuit had correctly applied the law and had correctly described CBD’s arguments.