Communities for a Better Environment v. EPA

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA’s determination not to establish a secondary standard for carbon monoxide, finding that petitioners did not have standing to challenge the [determination](http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-31/pdf/2011-21359.pdf) because they had not presented sufficient evidence of a link between carbon monoxide at the levels permitted by EPA and a worsening of global warming. In its review of the standards for carbon monoxide, EPA had conducted an evaluation of the causal connection between carbon monoxide and climate change and concluded that it could not determine whether a secondary standard for carbon monoxide would affect climate.

In October 2011, petitioners challenged EPA’s [final rule](http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-08-31/pdf/2011-21359.pdf) entitled “Review of National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide.”  Among other things, petitioners [challenged](http://www.arnoldporter.com/resources/documents/Communities%20for%20a%20Better%20Env't%20v%20EPA%20-%20petitioners'%20brief.pdf) EPA’s decision not to set a secondary standard for carbon monoxide (CO) based on its climate-related effects.  EPA had concluded that there was “insufficient information at this time to support the consideration of a secondary standard based on CO effects on climate processes.”  The oral argument on September 26, 2013 addressed the issue of EPA’s obligation under Massachusetts v. EPA to regulate pollutants that cause climate change.