By Eric Jay Toll | Phoenix Business Journal
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Salt River Project are still evaluating the impact of a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency action impacting Arizona.
EPA rejected portions of Arizona’s State Implementation Plan and instead substituted standards from the federal implementation plan in lieu of the unapproved state standards.
Arizona and SRP petitioned the courts for relief arguing that the EPA was arbitrarily and capriciously requiring unvetted technical standards.
ADEQ and SRP both petitioned the court for relief from the EPA ruling, but an appellate court panel Feb. 24 ruled that the federal agency was within its rights to make the ruling.
Related: Will new air standard force Phoenix into ‘no-growth-zone status’?
