Western States Petroleum Association v. California Air Resources Board

Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) challenged the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB’s) adoption of amended emission control measures for ocean-going vessels at berth in California ports. WSPA contended that CARB violated the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 by adopting capture and control requirements that were not technologically feasible, were not cost-effective, and would not achieve the projected emissions benefits, and also by failing “to properly balance the relative emission contribution from tankers against other mobile source categories throughout the state, and unfairly penaliz[ing] terminals where tankers berth because of the extremely high implementation costs associated with attempting to install capture and control technology at these facilities.” WSPA also alleged that CARB failed to fully consider the amended regulations’ environmental impacts beyond greenhouse gases.