On February 27, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) method of revising standards for the permissible levels of ground-level ozone and particulate matter. In doing so, the High Court rejected arguments by WLF and the regulated industry that the EPA had to factor in the costs of their implementation, and that the failure to do so would result in an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power from the Congress to the EPA. In its brief, WLF argued that the EPA was not precluded by the Clean Air Act from considering the costs of its proposed air quality standards. WLF further argued that by failing to consider such costs, the EPA rules became an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power because the agency could arbitrarily set the standard at any level. When the rules were being promulgated, WLF also petitioned to remove Ms. Browner from the regulatory proceeding because of her bias on the issue.
