U.S. Chamber Argues Landmark Clean Air Case Before the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Counsel for the United States Chamber of Commerce presented oral arguments before the Supreme Court today on the Environmental Protection Agency's unconstitutional attempt to expand their regulatory authority in the 1997 release of new standards for ozone and particulate emissions. A ruling is expected by next summer.

"It's time for the Supreme Court to put an end to EPA's complete disregard for the limits Congress placed on EPA's regulatory authority," said Thomas Donohue, Chamber President and CEO. "We are confident the Supreme Court will agree with two lower court rulings that struck down EPA's open-ended interpretation of the Clean Air Act in general and its rulemaking power in particular."

Ed Warren of Kirkland & Ellis presented oral arguments on behalf of the National Chamber Litigation Center, the legal arm of the Chamber, and other business groups, in two separate, but related cases. In the first case, Warren argued that EPA failed to provide an "intelligible principle" for setting air quality standards that would protect public health with an adequate margin of safety.

Warren also urged the Court to overrule a 20-year-old D.C. Circuit decision that wrongly interpreted the Clean Air Act to preclude EPA from taking costs and other non-health factors into account when setting air quality standards. According to Warren, a costs and benefits analysis could serve as the intelligible principle EPA refused to apply.

The standards impact virtually every sector of the economy and are enforced by substantial penalties, including new construction bans and loss of federal highway funds.

"If EPA isn't stopped, the proposed standards will be a crushing federal mandate on U.S. businesses," said Donohue. "The government's own estimates for the ozone standard alone show that the total cost of compliance for businesses would rival the gross national product of Canada - $720 billion dollars."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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