A recent DC Circuit ruling upholding a Biden-era soot standard could have implications beyond the particulate matter rule itself, particularly for how the agency conducts future reviews of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The decision in Kentucky v. EPA may give the agency greater latitude to revisit existing standards through an off-cycle review process without undertaking the more extensive analysis typically associated with such reviews.
“The thing that is important about this decision is that it does have an impact on what EPA can do now. They wanted to reconsider this rule,” Bracewell’s Brittany Pemberton told Law360.
“So now they’ve been told that doing this early off-cycle review of the NAAQS does not require the thorough review, they can do sort of a shorthand version of that,” she said.
