May 9, 2005
In a major victory for
Southland air quality, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper issued a
24-page opinion in Los Angeles on Friday denying the motion filed by the
Engine Manufacturers Association and Western States Petroleum Association
seeking to invalidate the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s
seven clean fleet rules.
“This lifts a legal cloud cast by the U.S. Supreme Court over a large
portion of our fleet rules,” said Dr. William A. Burke, Governing Board
Chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. “We can now
continue to implement our fleet rules, which are essential to our strategy
for reducing both smog-forming and toxic emissions in the Southland.”
“After years of improving air quality, progress is slowing, and we need
these rules to bring the region clean air,” said Gail Ruderman Feuer,
director of the Southern California Air Project at NRDC (Natural Resources
Defense Council). NRDC along with the environmental organizations Coalition
for Clean Air, Communities for a Better Environment, Planning and
Conservation League and the Sierra Club were AQMD’s co-defendants in the
lawsuit.
In her ruling, Judge Cooper stated that in requiring state and local
government fleet operators to purchase the cleanest available vehicles, AQMD
was acting as a market participant, not a regulator. “The Fleet Rules, as
applied to state and local governments, fall within the market participant
doctrine,” Cooper said in the conclusion to her opinion. “They are not
preempted.” Because the engine manufacturers brought a “facial challenge”
to the rules in their entirety, Judge Cooper found that their challenge
failed and denied their motion, without specifically addressing whether the
private applications would also avoid preemption under the market
participant doctrine.
In August 2000, following the AQMD's adoption of the first six fleet
rules, the Engine Manufacturers Association filed suit in federal District
Court, claiming the rules were preempted because they violated Section 209
of the federal Clean Air Act.
That section states that "No state or any political subdivision thereof
shall adopt or attempt to enforce any standard relating to control of
emissions from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines subject to
this part."
AQMD argued that its fleet rules did not set emission standards for new
vehicles or engines, but rather placed purchase requirements on fleet
operators requiring them to buy the cleanest vehicles commercially
available.
Judge Cooper agreed, and ruled against the Engine Manufacturers
Association in August 2001. The association appealed to the Supreme Court
of the United States, which agreed to hear the case in June 2003. The Bush
Administration argued in favor of the engine manufacturers and oil companies
and against AQMD in oral arguments before the court in January 2004. In
April 2004, the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and ruled
that purchase requirements do not escape preemption under Section 209 of the
Clean Air Act. The Court went on to note, however, that its holding did not
resolve the validity of the fleet rules and it remanded the case to Judge
Cooper's court to consider several issues, including "whether some of the
fleet rules can be characterized as internal state purchase decisions (and,
if so, whether a different standard for pre-emption applies.)"
Attorneys for AQMD and the environmental groups, supported by a
friend-of-the-court brief from the State of California, argued that most
applications of the fleet rules fall under a so-called market participant
exemption and therefore are not preempted by the federal Clean Air Act.
Judge Cooper agreed and said that the fleet rules, at least as applied to
state and local governments, are valid procurement requirements, not within
the scope of preemption under Section 209.
AQMD's Governing Board adopted its fleet rules in 2000 and 2001 following
a landmark AQMD study showing that about 70 percent of the total cancer risk
from air pollution was due to diesel exhaust. The seven fleet rules target
primarily diesel-powered vehicles, including transit buses, school buses,
trash trucks, airport shuttles and taxis, street sweepers and heavy-duty
utility trucks. The rules generally require fleet operators to buy
clean-fueled models when they replace vehicles or add to their fleets of 15
or more vehicles. As a result of the rules, more than 5,500 clean-burning
heavy-duty vehicles, powered by natural gas and other clean fuels, have been
added to the region's fleets.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
NRDC is a national, nonprofit organization of scientists, lawyers and
environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the
environment.
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