Engine Manufacturers Assn v. South Coast Air Quality Management District
A group of manufacturers and users of medium-duty and heavy-vehicles sued the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) claiming that its fleet rules were preempted by Section 209 of the Clean Air Act (the Act). SCAQMD had issued six rules applicable to operators of certain fleets of vehicles, such as urban buses, waste collection trucks, taxis and shuttles serving commercial airports, and street sweepers. These fleet rules require that replacement vehicles for the fleets be of certain types, such as alternative-fuel vehicles or low-emission gasoline powered vehicles. The rules are aimed at helping meet air quality goals mandated by the Act for the South Coast Air Quality Basin, which has the worst air quality of any metropolitan area in the country.
The Act grants substantial discretion to individual state, regional and local authorities in determining how to meet federal air quality standards, and also requires auto manufacturers to comply
with detailed emissions-related standards. To prevent a multiplicity of state auto standards, Section 209 of the Act preempts state authority to enforce “any standard relating to the control
of emissions from new motor vehicles.” The district court granted summary judgment to SCAQMD, finding no preemption. The Ninth Circuit affirmed without opinion.
This is the second cert grant for the 2003 Term from a decision of the Ninth Circuit involving the allocation of authority between state and federal governments under the Clean Air Act. The other
is Alaska Dep’t of Environmental Conservation v. E.P.A..
Question Presented:
Whether local government regulations prohibiting the purchase of new motor vehicles with specified emission characteristics--which are otherwise approved for sale by state and federal
regulators--are preempted by the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. ยง 7401 et seq.
