8th Circuit decides N.D. case Wednesday, August 31, 2022

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued an opinion in a North Dakota case.

In Voigt v. U.S. E.P.A. the court explained that local property owners challenged the EPA's decision to renew the Clean Air Act Title V operating permit for Coyote Station, a lignite coal-fired electric generating plant serviced by the nearby Coyote Creek Mine near Zap, North Dakota. The property owners argued to the agency that the power plant's submission was not complete because the mine and its emissions were not included in the permit and that the mine and the power plant should be considered a single source for purposes of a Title V permit; the agency administrator rejected the challenge because plaintiffs had failed to meet their burden of demonstrating that the mine and plant were a single source and thus failed to demonstrate that the proposed permit did not comply with the Clean Air Act. The court held that the agency's interpretation of the word "demonstrate" as it is used in 42 U.S.C. Sec. 7661d(b)(2) is entitled to deference and the agency administrator did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying the property owners' petition.

Read the court's opinion at http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/22/08/211970P.pdf