Clean Air Act: economic and technological feasibility in setting standards under Section 112

The legislative history of section 112 and parallel provisions of the Clean Air Act show that Congress never intended the Environmental Protection Agency to consider economic and technological feasibility when they set emission standards for hazardous air pollutants except under limited circumstances spelled out in the statute. The author concludes that EPA's decision to consider feasibility in withdrawing the proposed regulations defeats the Clean Air Act's purpose of forcing industries to develop pollution control technology. To uphold EPA's action would allow EPA to substitute its judgment of what constitutes proper policy for that of Congress.