Federal appellate judges have thrown out a 2016 haze reduction plan for Texas after EPA lost key supporting records.
In a short order issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted EPA’s request to vacate the rule that incorporated the cleanup plan targeting some of the nation’s highest-polluting power plants at the time.
“EPA asserts that because key documents in the administrative record are no longer in EPA’s possession,” the order says, “the administrative record does not contain statutorily required information necessary for judicial review of the Final Rule, nor can the Final Rule be explained or defended.”
The panel was made up of Chief Judge Jennifer Elrod, Judge Leslie Southwick and Senior Judge Edith Clement.
