EPA not Required to Exceed MARPOL Standards

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not required by the Clean Air Act (CAA) to immediately set emission standards for marine diesel engines higher than the standards provided for in MARPOL Annex VI. In the instant case, an environmental advocacy group sued the EPA after that agency promulgated a regulation that adopted the MARPOL standard for large marine diesel engines. Plaintiffs argued that the CAA is a technology-forcing statute, requiring the EPA to adopt standards higher than those already in existence. The court, noting that the EPA had adopted a two-step approach calling for potentially higher standards in 2007, ruled that the agency’s decision was not arbitrary. Bluewater Network v. Environmental Protection Agency, No. 03-1120 (D.C. Cir.) (HK Law)