The federal appeals court handling challenges to U.S. EPA's greenhouse gas regulations said Friday it would not consider as part of its deliberations a recent report by the agency's inspector general that questioned how the agency handled some of the scientific data involved.

In October, various industry groups filed what is known as a request for judicial notice in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, two days after the report came out (E&ENews PM, Oct. 4, 2011).

There are four rules consolidated into three cases under the legal microscope before the appeals court, including the so-called endangerment finding that focuses on EPA's initial decision in which it held that greenhouse gases are harmful and therefore subject to the Clean Air Act (Greenwire, March 23, 2011).

The inspector general report found that the scientific assessment backing the endangerment finding did not go through sufficient peer review for a document of its importance (Greenwire, Sept. 28, 2011).

The report examined only federal requirements for EPA's "technical support document" and not the accuracy of the scientific studies included within it.

In the one-sentence order issued Friday, the three-judge panel hearing the cases simply said the court had denied the motion for judicial notice.

The three cases are scheduled to be argued Feb. 28 and 29.