United States Ninth Circuit

States' and public interest organizations' petition for review of a rule issued by the NHTSA setting corporate average fuel economy tandards for light trucks, including many SUVs and other vehicles, is granted where: 1) the rule is arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) in its failure to monetize the value of carbon emissions, failure to set a backstop, failure to close an SUV loophole, and failure to set fuel economy standards for all vehicles in a particular weight class; and 2) an Environmental Assessment was inadequate under NEPA and petitioners raised a substantial question as to whether the rule may have a significant impact on the environment. (Substituted opinion)

Appellate Information

• Argued 05/14/2007
• Decided 08/18/2008
• Published 08/18/2008

Judges

• Before:  B. FLETCHER, EUGENE E. SILER, JR., and HAWKINS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Patrick Gallagher, Sierra Club;  Sean H. Donahue (argued), Environmental Defense;  Aaron Colangelo, David Doniger, Margaret Renner, Natural Resources Defense Council for Public Interest petitioner-appellants on Energy Policy Conservation Act Issues., Deborah A. Sivas, Holly D. Gordon, Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic;  Kassia R. Siegel, Brendan R. Cummings, Center for Biological Diversity for Public Interest petitioner-appellants on National Environmental Policy Act Issues., Edmund Brown, Jr., Thomas Greene, Theodora Berger, Ken Alex, Susan S. Fiering (argued), Office of the Attorney General of California;  Richard Blumenthal, Kimberly Massicotte, Jose Suarez, Office of the Attorney General of Connecticut;  G. Steven Rowe, Gerald D. Reid, Office of the Attorney General of Maine;  Thomas F. Reilly, William L. Pardee, Matthew Brock, Office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts;  Stuart Rabner, Howard Geduldig, Lisa J. Morelli, Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey;  Patricia A. Madrid, Stephen R. Farris, Office of the Attorney General of New Mexico;  Eliot Spitzer, Caitlin Halligan, Jared Snyder, Office of the Attorney General of New York;  Hardy Myers, Philip Schradle, Richard M. Whitman, Office of the Attorney General of Oregon;  Patrick C. Lynch, Tricia K. Jedele, Office of the Attorney General of Rhode Island;  William H. Sorrell, Kevin O. Leske, Office of the Attorney General of Vermont;  Eugene A. Adams, Todd S. Kim, Donna M. Murasky, Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia;  Michael A. Cardozo, Susan M. Kath, Scott Pasternack, Tracy Triplett, Corporation Counsel for the City of New York;  Mike Hatch, Ronald Gitek, Office of the Attorney General of Minnesota for petitioner-appellants in Consolidated Cases Nos. 06-72317 and 06-72641.


• For Appellees:
  
• Rosalind A. Knapp, Paul M. Geier, Peter J. Plocki, Anthony M. Cooke, Lloyd S. Guerci, Katherine C. Gehringer, Timothy H. Goodman, David W. Case, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Department of Transportation;  Peter D. Keisler, Matthew J. McKeown, Office of the U.S. Attorney General;  Ronald M. Spritzer, Environment and Natural Resources Division;  Douglas N. Letter, H. Thomas Byron (argued), U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, for the respondent-appellees.