On Sept. 29, 2009, California's 4th Appellate Court issued its decision in NPCA's appeal of a lower court's ruling that previously upheld the South Coast Air Quality Management Districts (SCAQMD) 2002 Amendments to its Rule 1113. In the case, National Paint & Coatings Association, Inc. v. South Coast Air Quality Management District, NPCA argued that the SCAQMD's volatile organic compound (VOC) limits for architectural and industrial maintenance coatings did not meet the statutory requirements of being "best available retrofit control technology," or BARCT.
NPCA claimed that the district was bound to follow BARCT criteria in setting clean air technology requirements and that technology-based standards set by agencies must be based on the requirements of the underlying statute, which here require that technology be "available and feasible." The fundamental issue in the case was the technological infeasibility of the 2002 coatings limits and SCAQMD's refusal to see the BARCT standard as a binding process, but rather, as a minimum standard it could surpass.
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