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Dueling Amendments: The Applicability of Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to Greenhouse Gases

Dueling Amendments: The Applicability of Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to Greenhouse Gases

Full Title: Dueling Amendments: The Applicability of Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act to Greenhouse Gases
Author(s): Avi Zevin
Publisher(s): Institute for Policy Integrity
Publication Date: November 1, 2014
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):

The United States Supreme Court determined that greenhouse gases (GHGs) were an “air pollutant” under the Clean Air Act in its ruling on Massachusetts v. EPA. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has since taken steps to regulate GHGs under a rarely utilized provision of the Clean Air Act, section 111(d). Despite the text printed in the U.S. Code, the true text of section 111(d) is in doubt. This is because of a small but potentially significant legislating error that occurred during the creation of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, when the Senate and House of Representatives made different revisions to section 111(d), both of which were passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President. This paper analyzes whether the conflicting amendments to section 111(d) will prove to be a problem or an opportunity for EPA in its efforts to regulate GHGs.

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