The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Wednesday the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the air pollution control plan Pennsylvania submitted in 2010 to meet U.S. Environmental Protection haze pollution control requirements was insufficient.

The decision said Pennsylvania did not require coal-burning power plants and industrial facilities to install the best available pollution control technologies.

The court appeal was filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club, the Clean Air Council and the National Parks Conservation Association.

The court found that Pennsylvania’s calculations supporting its “State Implementation Plan” — a document that is supposed to assess emissions sources and establish a plan to reduce them — was so lacking in specifics that it provided no justification for the EPA’s decision to approve the plan.

“Because we, as a reviewing court, need an agency to show its work before we can accept its conclusions,” Judge Thomas Vanaskie wrote in the opinion, “we will remand this case to the EPA for further consideration.”

A copy of the 2010 Plan is available online.

DEP’s 2010 plan can be found on the Bureau of Air Quality webpage.

NewsClips:

Federal Court Rules PA Haze Pollution Control Plan Inadequate

EPA’s New Ozone Limits Upsets Both Sides

EPA Announces Lower Standard For Ozone

EPA’s New Ozone Standard Not Tough Enough For Some

Unlikely Help In Battle Against Smog Rules: Black Businesses

New EPA Ozone Regulations Remain Divisive

Green Ridge Odor Impact Cost Hotel, Others Thousands

EPA Sets Stricter Emission Standards For Oil Refineries

10/5/2015