The Supreme Court announced yesterday that it has granted petitions for certiorari in a case involving EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases. The Supreme Court will review the D.C. Circuit’s 2012 decision in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, in which a unanimous three-judge panel upheld EPA’s greenhouse gas endangerment finding, its motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations, and the so-called Timing and Tailoring Rules that implement EPA’s greenhouse gas permitting program for stationary sources like utilities and other industrial facilities. The Court limited its review to one question, which was the central legal issue in the case: “Whether EPA permissibly determined that its regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles triggered permitting requirements under the Clean Air Act for stationary sources that emit greenhouse gases.” Only four Justices must vote in favor of a certiorari petition for the petition to be granted, so the Supreme Court’s action does not indicate that the Court will necessarily reverse the D.C. Circuit. The case will now be briefed and argued on the merits, with a decision likely this term, which ends in June 2014.
