# Opposition Brief — Ohio v. Thomas

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## Record

- **Collection:** Supreme Court brief
- **Document type:** Opposition Brief
- **Published:** January 1, 1986
- **Citation:** 476 U.S. 1169

## Text

No. 85-1372 MAY 231 1088

| CERK
In the Supreme Court of the United States

OCTOBER TERM, 1985

STATE OF OHIO, PETITIONER

vw

LEE M. THOMAS, ADMINISTRATOR,
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO
THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

BRIEF FOR THE RESPONDENT IN OPPOSITION

CHARLES FRIED
Solicitor General

F. HENRY HABICHT II
Assistant Attorney General

ROBERT L. KLARQUIST
ANNE S. ALMY
Attorneys

Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
(202) 633-2217

QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether the Environmental Protection Agency properly
refused to redesignate Lorain County to attainment for
ozone on the ground that emissions from that county con-
tribute to the ozone nonattainment problem in the Cleve-
land urban area.

(I)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ee hee es aces ec ck eas sae sekw be l
tig SO err l
EE a l
EEE Sl ET CTP CTC TERT TT CERT 7
SEL eee TD A SA ee 14
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Cases:
American Textile Manufacturers Inst. v.
SS SR 11
Cerro Copper Products Co. v. Ruckeilshaus,
SIC CTT CE ET CUTER ET Tee 13
Chemical Manufacturers Assin v. NRDC,
Ee |) 8
Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC,
ce vb be ae aces eee oo 2, 6, 8, 9, 10
Illinois State Chamber of Commerce v. EPA,
EE Ee 10, 13
Mobil Oil Corp. v. FPC, 417 U.S.
RE Gd eran 11-12
Universal Camera Corp. v. NLRB,
ER 12
Western Oil & Gas Assin v. EPA,
Ee ee 1]

(111)

IV
Page
Statutes and regulations:
Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq. :
§$ 107(a), 42 U.S.C. 7407(a) ..... 66... ee eee 2
$ 107(d), 42 U.S.C. 7407(d) ........... 2, 4,5
$ 107(d\(1), 42 U.S.C. 7407(d){1) .......-- ae
$ 107(d)(2), 42 U.S.C. 7407(d){2) .....-.-.-- 3
$ 107(d\(5), 42 U.S.C. 7407(d{5) .......---- 3
§$ 108, 42 U.S.C. 740B 2... ecw cece eee 2
8 109, 42 U.S.C. TOD 2... cccccccvcccccccs 2
$ 110(a), 42 U.S.C. 7410{a) ..........-.---- 2
BUTE, 42 UBC. TIO) wcccscccessccseseses 2
& 171(2), 42 U.S.C. TIOINZ) ....cccccccccess )
§$ 172(a)(1), 42 U.S.C. 7502(aX1) .......---- 2
$ 172(aX(2), 42 U.S.C. 7502(aX2) .........-- 2
$ 172(b)(3), 42 U.S.C. 7502(b)(3) .......--.- 3
$ 172(b\(6), 42 U.S.C. 7502(b)(6) .........-. 3
$ 172(b)(11)(B), 42 U.S.C. 7502(b)(11)(B) ... 3
B 173, 42 U.S.C. TIS wn cccccscccccccceses 3
Clean Air Amendments of 1970, Pub. L.
No. 91-604, 84 Stat. 1676 et seq. ............. l
36 Fed. Reg. 22384 (1971) wane at
ot rn er ey a re 2
44 Fed. Reg. 8202 (1979) (codified at
Oe Gs SRT 5a aoe cc eKkusbanrnenes 4
Miscellaneous:
oe ak pr rrr 2
43 Fed. Reg. (1978):
Oe cist cae hpaseecuvabieakc eens wae 5

Page
Miscellaneous—Continued:
48 Fed. Reg. (1983):

DEO chan thnek wii e cake Vee kaeewEdees 6
PE CAN aS ECE S ROSS N NEARER EAS RA OeS 5
Ge PE, Te, Dene CHWS Nowe biwscssaeevcees 6

H.R. Rep. 95-294, 95th Cong., Ist Sess.
(og) DE ee ee rr pr re rey er peer re 2

In the Supreme Court of the Hnited States

OCTOBER TERM, 1985

No. 85-1372
STATE OF OHIO, PETITIONER
V.

LEE M. THOMAS, ADMINISTRATOR,
UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

ON PETITION FOR A WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO
THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR
THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

BRIEF FOR THE RESPONDENT IN OPPOSITION

OPINIONS BELOW
The opinion of the court of appeals (Pet. App. Al-A14) is
reported at 776 F.2d 1333. The final decision of the Admin-
istrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Pet. App.
A15-A28) is published at 49 Fed. Reg. 24124.

JURISDICTION
The judgment of the court of appeals (Pet. App. Al) was
entered on November 15, 1985. The petition for a writ of

certiorari was filed on February 12, 1986. The jurisdiction
of this Court is invoked under 28 U.S.C. 1254(1).

STATEMENT

1. In the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, Pub. L.
No. 91-604, 84 Stat. 1676 et seg., Congress established a
combined federal and state program for the control and

(1)

2

abatement of air pollution. Sections 108 and 109 of the Act,
42 U.S.C. 7408 and 7409, provide for the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to establish primary and secon-
dary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) to
protect the public health and welfare. Sections 107(a) and
110(a), 42 U.S.C. 7407(a) and 7410(a), require each state to
adopt, and to submit to EPA for approval, a “state imple-
mentation plan” (SIP) designed to attain and maintain the
NAAQS within specified deadlines.

EPA promulgated NAAQS for several air pollutants in
1971. 36 Fed. Reg. 22384 (now codified at 40 C.F.R. Pt. 50).
The states submitted the required SIPs shortly thereafter,
and EPA generally approved them. See, e.g., 37 Fed. Reg.
10842 (1972). Under the statutory schedule, states were
(with limited exceptions) to attain the primary NAAQS by
mid-1975. See generally Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC,
467 U.S. 837, 845-846 (1984).

In fact, however, many areas failed to attain the NAAQS
despite the development and promulgation of the necessary
SIPs. See H. R. Rep. 95-294, 95th Cong., Ist Sess. 207-208
(1977). In 1977, Congress added Part D to the Clean Air
Act, 42 U.S.C. 7501 et seq., to establish a new and more
elaborate system of air quality planning for nonattainment
areas. The 1977 amendments generally permitted extension
of the deadline for attaining the NAAQS to December 31,
1982 (Section 172(a)(1), 42 U.S.C. 7502(a)(1)); if a state
demonstrated that attainment of the photochemical oxi-
dant or carbon monoxide NAAQS was not possible by that
date despite the use of all reasonably available control
measures, the deadline for those pollutants could be
extended to 1987 (Section 172(a)(2), 42 U.S.C. 7502(a)(2)).
See generally Chevron U.S.A., 467 U.S. at 847-849.

The 1977 amendments also added subsection (d) to Sec-
tion 107 of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 7407(d). Subsection (d)(1)
directed the states to “submit to the Administrator[of EPA]

3

a list, together with asummary of the available information,
identifying those air quality control regions, or portions
thereof,” in which air quality (1) met the NAAQS (attain-
ment areas), (2) did not meet the NAAQS (nonattainment
areas), or (3) could not be classified for lack of information
(unclassifiable areas). EPA was then required to promul-
gate the state lists “with such modifications as [the Adminis-
trator] deems necessary” (42 U.S.C. 7407(d)(2)). If the
Administrator proposed to modify a state list, he had to
notify the state, request “all available data,” and provide the
state with an opportunity to show why the proposed modi-
fication was “inappropriate” (ibid.). Subsection (d)(5) also
permitted a state to revise and resubmit its lists to the
Administrator for review and approval under these pro-
cedures.

In addition, the 1977 amendments required the states to
submit comprehensive SIP revisions for nonattainment
areas. The revised SiPs were to provide for annual incre-
mental emission reductions sufficient to demonstrate
“reasonable further progress” toward meeting the new
deadlines. Section 172(b)(3), 42 U.S.C. 7502(b)(3). In par-
ticular, the revised SIPs had to provide for emission reduc-
tions from existing sources based on “reasonably available
control technology” (ibid.), and to incorporate strict
requirements governing the issuance of permits for the con-
struction and operation of new or modified major station-
ary sources in the nonattainment area (Sections 172(b)(6)
and 173, 42 U.S.C. 7502(b)(6) and 7503). Furthermore,
revised SIPs for nonattainment areas with attainment date
extensions beyond 1982, i.e., those areas that had not
attained the NAAQS for photochemical oxidants or carbon
monoxide, had to establish schedules for implementing
inspection and maintenance programs for motor vehicles.
Section 172(b)(11)(B), 42 U.S.C. 7502(b)(11)(B).

4

2. Shortly after enactment of the 1977 amendments,
EPA offered guidance to assist its regional offices and the
states in preparing and reviewing the necessary nonattain-
ment designations under the new Section 107(d). The guide-
lines noted that ozone! nonattainment areas shouid be of
sufficient size to include most of the sources of significant
impact and thus to allow unified treatment of the entire
problem. See C.A. App. 19-23, 24-25, 26-27, 36-39.

EPA’s directive on the designation of nonattainment
areas for ozone reflected the scientific understanding of the
process by which ozone is formed and transported. Unlike
many other pollutants, ozone is not emitted directly into the
atmosphere from an air pollution source. Instead, ozone is
formed from substances known as ozone precursors, which
are generally produced as a result of either fuel combustion
or the use of organic chemicals in both stationary and
mobile sources. Ozone precursors are released into the
atmosphere and form ozone by undergoing photochemicai
oxidation reactions in the presence of sunlight. While in the
atmosphere, ozone and its precursors are transported by the
wind and can be carried considerable distances from the
point of origin without significant dilution. See C.A. App.
212-214. Numerous monitoring studies conducted in major
urban areas show that the point of maximum ozone concen-
tration develops at a distance downwind from the city core
area where the precursors originate. See C.A. App. 100-103,
104-118, 153-181, 217-229, 230-241, 250, 257-260. Because
ozone is not emitted directly from sources but is formed

'From 1971 to 1979, EPA applied an NAAQS for photochemical
oxidants. In early 1979, EPA relaxed this standard and restated it to
read exclusively in terms of ozone (rather than in terms of photochemi-
cal oxidants generally, which contain ozone as their major component).
See 44 Fed. Reg. 8202 (1979) (now codified at 40 C.F.R. 50.9 (1984)).
Ozone, which is a major component of smog, can cause serious respira-
tory problems.

5

from ozone precursors, and because ozone and ozone pre-
cursors are generally transported great distances, ozone
pollution presents a regional rather than a local problem.

3. On October 5, 1978, EPA approved Ohio’s status
designations for ozone pursuant to Section 107(d) of the
Clean Air Act. See 43 Fed. Reg. 45993 (1978). All of the
counties in the Cleveland urban area, including Lorain,
Cuyahoga, Lake, Medina, and Geauga Counties, were
included in the Greater Cleveland Intrastate Air Quality
Control Region and were classified as nonattainment for
ozone. See 43 Fed. Reg. 46015-46016 (1978).

On November 22, 1982, Ohio requested that EPA revise
the ozone designations of 46 counties, including Lorain, to
attainment of the NAAQS for ozone. Lorain County lies
immediately west and south of Cuyahoga County, in which
the City of Cleveland is located; Cuyahoga County is desig-
nated nonattainment for ozone, and was not sought to be
redesignated by Ohio’s request. During the summer (when
ozone formation is greatest), winds frequently originate
from the southwest and thus blow from Lorain County into
Cuyahoga and other counties in the Cleveland urban area.

On August 10, 1983, EPA published a notice of proposed
rulemaking on Ohio’s request for redesignation. See 48 Fed.
Reg. 36275. In seeking public comment on EPA’s review of
the State’s request, the notice proposed to approve the
attainment designation for 36 counties and to retain the
nonattainment redesignation for ten counties, including
Lorain. EPA stated that while air quality data did not
establish a violation of the ozone NAAQS in Lorain
County, emissions of ozone precursors in the county
represent a substantial portion of such emissions in the
Cleveland urban nonattainment area and have a significant
impact on ozone levels in Cuyahoga and other counties in
the downwind Cleveland urban area for which the ozone

6

NAAQS had not been met. See 48 Fed. Reg. 36272 (1983).
On that basis, EPA proposed that Lorain County should
remain nonattainment for ozone.

Following public notice and comment, EPA took final
action approving Ohio’s redesignation of 37 counties as
attainment for ozone and disapproving the State’s request
to redesignate nine other counties, including Lorain. See 49
Fed. Reg. 24124 (1984) (Pet. App. A15-A28). In its com-
ments on the proposed rulemaking, Ohio conceded that
emissions from Lorain County contribute to ozone concen-
trations in the Cleveland area that exceed the NAAQS (id.
at A4).

4. The court of appeals denied Ohio’s petition for review
ard upheld EPA’s decision not to redesignate Lorain
County as aitainment for ozone (Pet. App. Al-A13). The
court first held that EPA had acted within its statutory
authority in defining a nonattainment area for ozone to be
the urban area that includes both the locations that exceed
the NAAQS and the locations that are the origin for a
substantia! portion of the ozone pollutants (id. at A8-A13).
Relying on Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC, 467 U.S. 837
(1984), the court found that the Act did not express a
definition of the relevant “area” for nonattainment pur-
poses and that EPA’s position was based on a reasonable
construction of the statute:

It appears a permissible exercise of this authority [to
pass upon redesignation requests] for EPA to deny
redesignation with respect to a component of a non-
attainment area which produced a substantial portion
of the area’s pollution even though the air within that
component tests at an acceptable level. If it were other-
wise, the fortuitous circumstance that pollutants and
precursors emitted within a county are moved by

abe

7

prevailing winds to a neighboring county would deprive
EPA of the tools Congress provided for attacking pol-
lution in the area of which the county is logically a part.

Pet. App. A10-AI1.

The court of appeals also concluded that under this
standard EPA had properly retained Lorain County in the
Cleveland urban nonattainment area. As the court ex-
plained, the record establishes that significant quantities of
ozone precursors are emitted from sources in Lorain
County; that tests in a number of urban areas show th2
ozone precursors are carried long distances in the atmos-
phere and then are converted to ozone in that distant loca-
tion; that meterological data in the record demonstrate that
during the peak ozone periods the prevailing winds blow
from Lorain County into Cuyahoga and other counties that
have not achieved the NAAQS; and that Ohio conceded
that pollutants from Lorain County contribute to Cleve-
land’s ozone problem (Pet. App. A7-A8, A13). Finally, the
court found that it was not arbitrary for EPA to redesignate
Medina County but net Lorain County since, in contrast to
heavily industrialized Lorain, Medina is a largely rural area
that contains only scattered sources of pollution and has
insignificant levels of emissions (id. at A13).

Judge Wellford concurred. While joining the majority’s
“able analysis of the issues in this case,” he wrote “separ-
ately only to bespeak my dissatisfaction with EPA’s failure
to conduct measurements of the wind-factor effect in the
Cleveland area of emissions from Lorain County,” which
“would certainly have made this case less difficult in dispo-
sition” (Pet. App. Al4).

ARGUMENT

1. Ohio contends (Pet. 1i-16) that EPA’s denial of its
request to redesignate Lorain County to attainment status
was inconsistent with the Clean Air Act. The court of

8

appeals correctly rejected Ohio’s argument, and this ruling
does not conflict with any decision of this Court or of any
other court of appeals. Accordingly, further review is not
warranted.

In Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. NRDC, 467 U.S. 837 (1984),
this Court recently set forth the standard for judicial review
of an agency’s interpretation of a statute that it administers
(467 U.S. at 842-843 (footnotes omitted)):

First, always, is the question whether Congress has
directly spoken to the precise question at issue. If the
intent of Congress is clear, that is the end of the matter;
for the court, as well as the agency, must give effect to
the unambiguously expressed intent of Congress. If,
however, the court determines Congress has not directly
addressed the precise question at issue, the court does
not simply impose its own construction on the statute,
as would be necessary in the absence of an administra-
tive interpretation. Rather, if the statute is silent or
ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the ques-
tion for the court is whether the agency’s answer is
based on a permissible construction of the statute.

In applying this standard, the reviewing “court need not
conclude that the agency construction was the only one it
permissibly could have adopted to uphold the construction,
or even the reading the court would have reached if the
question initially had arisen in a judicial proceeding” (467
U.S. at 843 n.11); rather, it is enough that the agency’s
interpretation “is a reasonable one” (467 U.S. at 845). And
“the principle of deference to administrative interpreta-
tions,” which accords “considerable weight” to the agency’s
construction (467 U.S. at 844), has especial upplication to
statutes like the Clean Air Act that are “lengthy, detailed,
technical, [and] complex” (467 U.S. at 848). See also, e.g.,
Chemical Manufacturers Assn v. NRDC, No. 83-1013
(Feb. 27, 1985), slip op. 8-9.

9

As the court of appeals correctly recognized, the Clean
Air Act “does not speak directly to the precise question”
presented in this case (Pet. App. A9). Nothing in the Act
requires that each individual county in an urban area be
considered separately and in isolation in determining
whether compliance with an NAAQS has been achieved.
Nor does the statute require EPA to ignore the fact that
ozone and ozone precursors in one county are transported
into other counties that exceed the NAAQS for ozone.

Ohio argues that Section 107(d)(1) of the Clean Air Act,
42 U.S.C. 7407(d)(1), requires EPA to redesignate a county
as attainment if the air quality in the county meets the
NAAQS. However, Section 107(d)(1)—which refers to “air
quality control regions, or portions thereof, * * * which
* * * have ambient air quality levels better than [the
NAAQS]”—does not mention counties or otherwise iden-
tify the “portion{]” of an air quality control region that EPA
should consider in its designation of attainment. Likewise,
the definition of “nonattainment area” in Section 171(2), 42
U.S.C. 7501(2), upon which Ohio also relies, does “not
directly deal[] with the question posed by this appeal” (Pet.
App. A10). That provision defines what is meant by “non-
attainment” but does not specify the “area” for which the
nonattainment determination is to be made. Cf. Chevron
U.S.A., 467 U.S. at 860 (definition of “major stationary
source” addresses the meaning of “major” but not of “sta-
tionary source”).

Ohio also complains about the pollution control require-
ments it must meet under EPA’s construction and objects
that they “may or may not be the most efficient and effective
means of controlling emissions which contribute to the
formation of ozone” (Pet. 14). As the court of appeals
explained (Pet. App. A10-A11), however, it was reasonable

10

for EPA to deny redesignation with respect to a com-
ponent of a nonattainment area which produced a
substantial portion of the area’s pollution even though
the air within that component tests at an acceptable
level. If it were otherwise, the fortuitous circumstance
that pollutants and precursors emitted within a county
are moved by prevailing winds to a neighboring county
would deprive EPA of the tools Congress provided for
attacking pollution in the area of which the county is
logically a part.

In effect, Ohio seeks to challenge the pollution control
requirements of the Clean Air Act and the desirability of
EPA’s chosen means for implementing the statutory pro-
gram. This argument, which “really centers on the wisdom
of the agency’s policy, * * * must fail” (Chevron U.S.A.,
467 U.S. at 866).

The decision below is also consistent with the decisions of
other courts of appeals on this issue. In Jllinois State
Chamber of Commerce v. EPA, 775 F.2d 1141 (7th Cir.
1985) (Pet. App. A29-A62), the court recognized that
EPA’s approach was within its statutory authority and
reasonably effectuated the purposes of the Clean Air Act:

The current state of scientific knowledge suggests that
it would be worse than foolish to start with geographi-
cally small areas, for ozone, and then base the attain-
ment status of each area on the monitoring of ozone
within that area. Attainment and nonattainment are
meant to reflect the contribution of an area to the
pollution problem; and perhaps the worst way to
determine the contribution of a small area to the ozone
problem is to measure for ozone within the area itself.
It cannot have been the intention of Congress that
EPA choose the worst possible way to measure for the
production of pollutants * * *.

aE aaa eT te Bg

[C]ertain controls apply to nonattainment areas by
operation of the statute. It is essential to the success of
the Clean Air Act that these controls apply in the
appropriate areas, and we refuse to construe the law in
such a way that the controls will apply to areas that
suffer from but do not produce ozone pollution but not
to areas that produce but do not suffer from such
pollution.

Pet. App. A45-A46, A48-A49. Similarly, in Western Oil &
Gas Ass'n v. EPA, 767 F.2d 603 (9th Cir. 1985), the court
concluded that the Clean Air Act “provide[s] for considera-
ble EPA discretion in designating area boundaries large
enough to achieve the purposes which underlie the classifi-
cation scheme’ (767 F.2d at 606), and that it was “common
sense” and not “in excess of statutory authority” (767 F.2d
at 607) for EPA to include with the nonattainment area the
sources of ozone precursors that contribute to the pollution
problem in the urban region.‘

2. Ohio also contends (Pet. 6-10) that EPA’s denial of
redesignation in this case was not adequately supported by
the rulemaking record. However, as Ohio’s discussion itself
makes clear, the standard for judicial review of agency
decisions is well settled, and the question whether the court
of appeals properly applied that standard in this case pre-
sents only a f*~*bound issue that does not warrant the grant

*Ohio’s asserted grounds (Pet. 15 n.6) for distinguishing Western Oil
& Gas Ass'n are unavailing. First, the fact that that case involved an
initial designation rather than a redesignation is simply irrelevant,
since, by Ohio’s own admission (Pet. 12), the same standards apply to
both deverminations. Furthermore, the fact that the state supported
EPA’s designation in that case does not advance Ohio’s argument that
the statute on its face requires a county meeting the NAAQS to be
designated as attainment regardless of its contribution to pollution
problems in the rest of the urban area.

12

of certiorari. See, e.g., American Textile Manufacturers
Inst. v. Donovan, 452 U.S. 490, 523 (1981); Mobil Oil
Corp. v. FPC, 417 U.S. 283, 310 (1974); Universal Camera
Corp. v. NLRB, 340 U.S. 474, 491 (1951).

In any event, the court of appeals correctly upheld EPA’s
determination. The rulemaking record demonstrates that
significant quantities of ozone precursors are emitted from
sources in Lorain County and that the prevailing winds
blow from Lorain to Cuvahoga and other counties during
the peak ozone season (Pet. App. A8). In addition, studies
in other urban areas show that ozone precursors are carried
long distances in the atmosphere before they are converted
into ozone (id. at Al3); as the court of appeals found, these
tests “were sufficiently similar to form a reliable basis for
concluding that the same condition would occur in Cleve-
land” (ibid.). And it is undisputed that Cuyahoga County—
for which Ohio did not even seek redesignation—is out of
compliance with the ozone NAAQS (id. at A3, A11). Based
on these factors, the court of appeals properly concluded
that “[t]he technical materials in this record support the
conclusion that the contribution of Lorain County’s emis-
sions to the Cleveland ozone problem is significant” (id. at
A13). In fact, “Ohio admitted on the record that emissions
from Lorain [C]Jounty contribute to the ozone concentra-
tions in the Cleveland area” (ibid.), which by itself serves to
establish that EPA did not act in an arbitrary and unsup-
ported fashion.

Ohio argues (Pet. 10) that the record was inadequate
because the studies on the transportation of ozone precur-
sors and the formation of ozone did not specifically relate to
the Cleveland area. However, these studies were used here
for their treatment of general scientific principles and pro-
vided a reliable basis for applying their findings in this case
(Pet. App. A13); thus, “the fact that EPA did not conduct
measurements of the wind-factor effect in the Cleveland

13

area is [not] important” (ibid. ).5 Ohio further asserts (Pet. 9)
that it was irrational for EPA to redesignate Medina but not
Lorain County as attainment for ozone. The court of
appeals correctly rejected this assertion, noting that
“Lorain County is heavily industrialized while Medina
County is largely rural” and that “compared with the emis-
sions from Lorain County * * * those from Medina County
are insignificant” (Pet. App. A13).

Finally, contrary to Ohio’s contention (Pet. 5-8), the
decision below does not conflict with the Seventh Circuit’s
decision in Illinois State Chamber of Commerce v. EPA,
supra. In that case, a divided panel set aside EPA’s decision
not to redesignate certain counties in Illinois as attainment
for ozone on the ground that the agency had “not made
clear the rationale for its action” (Pet. App. A49). Accord-
ingly, the court remanded “for reconsideration by EPA and
for clarification of the grounds upon which it has dealt or
will deal with the Illinois request” (id. at A49-A50). Nothing
in Illinois State Chamber of Commerce suggests that the
- Seventh Circuit applied a different standard of review than
the one followed by the Sixth Circuit here,‘ and the court’s
remand for clarification of that record does not conflict
with the decision below that the entirely distinct record in
this case was adequate to sustain EPA’s action. Ohio’s
claimed conflict represents nothing more than the applica-
tion of settled legal standards to the different factual
records in the two cases.

3Ohio also relies on the concurring opinion of Judge Wellford, who
expressed his belief that such measurements “would certainly have
made this case less difficult in disposition” (Pet. App. Al4). Notwith-
standing his “dissatisfaction” (ibid.), however, Judge Wellford con-
curred in “the able analysis” (ibid.) and judgment of the court.

‘See also, e.g., Cerro Copper Products Co. v. Ruckelshaus, 766 F.2d
1060, 1066-1067 (7th Cir. 1985).

14

CONCLUSION
The petition for a writ of certiorari should be denied.

Respectfully submitted.

CHARLES FRIED
Solicitor General

F. HENRY Hasicut II
Assistant Attorney General

ROBERT L. KLARQUIST
ANNE S. ALMY
Attorneys

May 1986

DOJ-1986-05

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/brief%3Amicro_IA40385018_1479%3A2. Public record. Not legal advice.
