Southwestern Elec. Power Co. V
Case: 15-60821 Document: 00514914192 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/12/2019 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS United States Court of Appeals FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT Fifth Circuit FILED April 12, 2019 No. 15-60821 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk SOUTHWESTERN ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY; UTILITY WATER ACT GROUP; UNION ELECTRIC COMPANY, doing business as Ameren Missouri; WATERKEEPER ALLIANCE, INCORPORATED; ENVIRONMENTAL INTEGRITY PROJECT; SIERRA CLUB; AMERICAN WATER WORKS ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF WATER COMPANIES; CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, by and through the Board of Public Utilities; DUKE ENERGY INDIANA, INCORPORATED, Petitioners v. UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY; ANDREW WHEELER, in his official capacity as Acting Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Respondents On Petitions for Review of Final Administrative Actions of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Before HAYNES, HO, and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges. STUART KYLE DUNCAN, Circuit Judge: Steam-electric power plants generate most of the electricity used in our nation and, sadly, an unhealthy share of the pollution discharged into our nation’s waters. To control this pollution, the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., empowers the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate and enforce rules known as “effluent limitation guidelines” or “ELGs.” Id. Case: 15-60821 Document: 00514914192 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/12/2019 No. 15-60821 §§ 1311, 1314, 1362(11). For quite some time, ELGs for steam-electric power plants have been, in EPA’s words, “out of date.” 80 Fed. Reg. 67,838. That is a charitable understatement. The last time these guidelines were updated was during the second year of President Reagan’s first term, the same year that saw the release of the first CD player, the Sony Watchman pocket television, and the Commodore 64 home computer.
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