The Mobile Source Air Toxics Rule: How Does the Greatest Reduction Become No Reduction?

In Sierra Club v. EPA the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the EPA had acted within the Clean Air Act's statutory mandate in promulgating the Mobile Source Air Toxics Rule despite the fact that the rule did not actual require any reduction in emission levels. By allowing an excessive consideration of cost, a continued deferral of rulemaking, and a perpetual search for more information, the court failed to ensure that emissions be reduced through technological innovation as the statue directs. The decision is insufficient in its scrutiny of the rule's relation to the statutory mandate, and thereby establishes a dangerous erosion of technology forcing standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]