Description: Challenge to revisions to the Refrigerant Management Program’s 2016 extension to substitute refrigerants (originally consolidated with industry challenge to 2016 rule (Nos. 17-1016 and 17-1017)).
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Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. v. Wheeler
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 05/09/2022 Order Download Unopposed motion for 30-day abeyance granted and revised briefing schedule set. 03/22/2021 Order Download Unopposed motion for 90-day abeyance filed. 03/18/2021 Motion Download Unopposed motion for 90-day abeyance filed by EPA. 11/25/2020 Motion Download Joint unopposed motion filed by petitioner NRDC, state and municipal petitioners, and respondents EPA and Administrator Wheeler to amend briefing format. 10/16/2020 Brief Download Opening brief filed by petitioner NRDC and state and municipal petitioners. 06/30/2020 Motion Download Motion filed by EPA to consolidate with National Environmental Development Association’s Clean Air Project v. EPA, No. 17-1016. 05/11/2020 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. Lawsuits Filed to Challenge EPA’s Lifting of Leak Repair and Maintenance Requirements for HFC Refrigerants. Eleven states, two cities, and Natural Resources Defense Council filed petitions seeking review of EPA’s final rule titled “Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Revisions to the Refrigerant Management Program’s Extension to Substitutes.” The final rule revised 2016 regulations that extended refrigerant management regulations for refrigerants containing ozone-depleting substances to substitute refrigerants such as hydrofluorocarbons, which are greenhouse gases. The revised regulations limit leak repair and appliance maintenance requirements to ozone-depleting substances. Two consolidated cases challenging the 2016 regulations have been held in abeyance since April 2017. -
New York v. Wheeler
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 05/11/2020 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. -
National Environmental Development Association’s Clean Air Project v. EPA
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 11/30/2020 Order Download Order issued granting motion for voluntary dismissal, Trade Groups Proceeding with Narrower Challenge to 2016 Refrigerant Management Rule; NRDC and States Challenge 2020 Rescission of Portion of Rule. The D.C. Circuit granted a joint motion by two trade associations for voluntary dismissal of their lawsuits challenging 2016 updates to refrigerant management requirements under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act. At the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) request, the D.C. Circuit held the proceedings challenging the 2016 rule in abeyance beginning in August 2018 while EPA considered changes to portions of the rule. In March 2020, EPA published a final rule rescinding part of the 2016 updates that extended appliance maintenance and leak detection requirements to appliances containing 50 pounds or more of certain “non-exempt” substitute refrigerants, including hydrofluorocarbons. The D.C. Circuit previously consolidated challenges to the 2020 rule with the trade associations’ challenges to the 2016 updates and also established a new docket for consideration of four issues that the two trade associations have raised in administrative petitions for reconsideration of the 2020 rule. The D.C. Circuit held this new proceeding in abeyance. Briefing in the challenges to the 2020 rule began in October, with state and municipal petitioners and Natural Resources Defense Council filing a joint brief arguing that the rescission of the appliance repair and leak detection requirements rested on an erroneous legal interpretation and that EPA acted arbitrarily and unreasonably by applying Section 608 inconsistently and disregarding prior findings. EPA’s brief is due December 15. 10/16/2020 Motion Download Joint motion by National Environmental Development Association’s Clean Air Project and Air Permitting Forum for voluntary dismissal granted. The motion indicated that Air Permitting Forum and Auto Industry Forum would continue to participate as intervernors in Support of the Respondent in Case Nos. 20-1150 and 20-1151. 08/17/2020 Order Download Motion to sever and hold in abeyance granted. 08/11/2020 Order Download Air Permitting Forum and Auto Industry Forum motion for leave to intervene granted. 08/03/2020 Motion Download Unopposed proposal filed by EPA to sever and hold in abeyance four issues raised administratively, and for entry of proposed briefing format, word limits, and schedule. 07/21/2020 Order Download 17-1016 and 17-1017 returned to the active docket, Honeywell International, Inc. motion to withdraw as intervenor granted, and motion to consolidate 20-1150 and 20-1151 granted. 06/30/2020 Motion Download Motion filed by EPA to consolidate with NRDC v. EPA (No. 20-1150). 03/27/2020 Motion Download Unopposed motion for 90-day further abeyance filed by EPA. 02/04/2020 Status Report Download Status report filed by EPA. 06/11/2019 Status Report Download Status report filed by EPA. 04/12/2019 Status Report Download Status report filed by EPA. 01/17/2017 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed. Trade Associations Challenged Refrigerant Management Requirements. Two trade associations filed petitions for review challenging EPA’s updates to refrigerant management requirements under the Clean Air Act. The regulations were published in the Federal Register on November 18, 2016 and went into effect on January 1, 2017. EPA said that the updates—which include strengthened leak repair requirements and recordkeeping requirements for the disposal of appliances containing more than five and less than 50 pounds of refrigerant—would result in reduced emissions of ozone-depleting substances and gases with high global warming potentials -
Air Permitting Forum v. EPA
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 01/17/2017 Petition for Review Download Petition for review filed.