Appeals Court Rules Against Retroactive EPA HCFC Phaseout Rule
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency's 2009 final rule that tightened the phase out of HCFC (hydrochlorofluorcarbon) production as required by the Montreal Protocol, had unacceptably altered transactions that EPA had approved under its 2003 rule, and thus had an impermissible retroactive effect. The Court vacated the 2009 rule in part and remanded it to the EPA.
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(The 2003 rule had created a flexible system making allowances easily tradable with minimum regulatory interference and oversight. The 2009 rule had disallowed permanent intra-company, inter-pollutant transfers of baseline allowances.)
(CADC No. 09-1318, Arkema Inc. vs. EPA, dated 08/27/10)