(CN) — Environmental advocates on Thursday asked a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit to reverse the easing of Detroit air-pollution restrictions, claiming that decision was based on skewed data.
To that point, the Sierra Club argued that the Environmental Protection Agency improperly excluded specific air-monitoring data in determining that pollution restrictions could be lessened in the Detroit area.
“I want to underscore the real-world implications of this case,” said Detroit-based attorney Nicholas Leonard, who argued on behalf of the Sierra Club. “At the time the EPA made these decisions and continuously until today, ozone pollution in Detroit has been above the level that exists to protect people’s health.”
The EPA in May 2023 announced that Metro Detroit was meeting federal ozone standards and said it was thus wrapping up a maintenance plan to ensure future air-quality compliance. The new designation meant that metro area would not have to comply with the harshest restrictions on polluters or implement further emission reduction measures.
But the EPA was only able to reach its conclusion because the agency excluded two days of elevated ozone layer data from its findings, Leonard told the Sixth Circuit judges. The Sierra Club filed suit directly with the Sixth Circuit, challenging both the EPA’s data and its reclassification of the Detroit Metro Area as attainment, meaning an area where air quality meets the agency’s standards.
Representing the EPA, Heather Gange with the Justice Department explained that data from two high-ozone days had been excluded because those high levels had been related to Canadian wildfires.
“If they had not been taken out under the exceptional event determination, they would have caused the Detroit area to not obtain the ozone standard for 2022,” Gange said.
But U.S. Circuit Judge Guy Cole, a Bill Clinton appointee, immediately questioned Gange on her claim.
“The Sierra Club disputes the points you have just made,” Cole said. “There are two sides to this coin.”
Gange pushed back, arguing that while “Sierra Club looks at the same information that the EPA looked at, and they would like the EPA to draw a different conclusion.”
“A rule can only be overturned or set aside by the court if the agency acted arbitrarily and capriciously,” she added.
In his closing statement, Leonard told the court that satellite image evidence did not support the EPA’s conclusion that wildfire smoke impacted the ozone on those specific days.
“These are not technical points; these are basic disconnects between EPA’s conclusions and the facts in the record,” Leonard said.
Joining Leonard in presenting arguments was Sierra Club attorney Elena Saxonhouse.
Also on the Sixth Circuit panel were Joe Biden appointee U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Davis, and George W. Bush appointee U.S. Circuit Judge Helene White. They did not give a timetable for when they might rule.