The Section 115 SIP Call

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one of the key interpretive issues that EPA must address to implement Section 115: how the provision guides EPA in issuing a SIP call. There are multiple approaches that individually or in combination EPA could use to craft an effective SIP call, each of which relies on a different component of the statutory text to constrain agency discretion. The chapter discusses how EPA could use these approaches to identify the quantity of GHG emissions that each state must reduce, and it details options for allocating emission reduction obligations equitably among the states. It explains how EPA can implement the SIP call through model rules that minimize administrative burdens in willing states and through federal plans that can be enforced in recalcitrant ones. In addition, it explores how EPA can harmonize the SIP call with parallel action to reduce power plant emissions under Section 111(d).