Document Type
Article
Publication Title
The Georgetown Environmental Law Review
Volume
34
Publication Date
2022
Keywords
clean air act, EPA, greenhouse gases, climate change
Abstract
Does the Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) receipt of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) trigger the agency’s duties under Section 115 of the Clean Air Act? The law requires EPA to take action to prevent or eliminate air pollution endangering the public health or welfare of foreign nationals under certain circumstances. If triggered, the argument goes, the law could justify, or compel, EPA’s imposition of nationwide greenhouse gas regulation to combat climate change. One way to do so is to trigger EPA’s duties “upon receipt of reports, surveys or studies from any duly constituted international agency.” This Article considers whether EPA could reasonably interpret the IPCC to qualify as such an entity, and concludes not, but that a better candidate might exist.
Recommended Citation
Adam D. Orford,
Clean Air Act Section 115: Is the IPCC a “Duly Constituted International Agency”?, 34 Geo. Env't L. Rev. 215
(2022)
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/1410
