Environmental Defense Fund v. EPA

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals granted EPA’s request for voluntary vacatur and remand of a final rule delaying implementation of emission guidelines for municipal solid waste landfills under Clean Air Act Section 111(d). EPA requested vacatur based on the D.C. Circuit January 2021 opinion in <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/wp-content/uploads/case-documents/2021/20210119_docket-19-1140_opinion.pdf">American Lung Association v. EPA</a>, which addressed the repeal and replacement of the Clean Power Plan and also found that the justifications for extending Section 111(d) implementation timelines were inadequate. The landfill regulations incorporated the deadlines found to be invalid in American Lung Association.

EPA filed a motion in the D.C. Circuit for voluntary vacatur and remand of the final rule extending implementation timelines for emission guidelines under Clean Air Act Section 111(d) for municipal solid waste landfills. EPA argued that it was appropriate for the court to grant the request due to the D.C. Circuit opinion in American Lung Association v. EPA that found the justifications for extending Section 111(d) implementation timelines to be inadequate. EPA also noted that it had evaluated the final rule pursuant to President Biden’s Executive Order 13990 and that it planned to issue a federal plan by May 2021 for any state without an approved state plan implementing the landfill emission guidelines. In addition to arguing that vacatur was an appropriate course of action because the D.C. Circuit had already rejected arguments similar to those EPA made in support of the landfill rule, EPA also contended that vacatur was more practical than remand without vacatur and that vacatur would not have disruptive consequences such as deleterious effects on public health and the environment.

On February 2, 2021, EPA filed an unopposed motion to postpone oral argument in the proceedings challenging the final rule delaying implementation of emission guidelines for existing municipal solid waste landfills. Oral argument is scheduled for February 22. EPA requested that the argument not take place before April 8 to allow EPA time to evaluate the impact of the D.C. Circuit’s opinion in the Affordable Clean Energy Rule case (which vacated regulations extending timelines for implementation of emission guidelines) as well as to review the landfill delay rule pursuant to the Executive Order on Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis. The non-exclusive list of agency actions accompanying the executive order included the landfill delay rule as one of the rules that must be reviewed.

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