A federal court today ruled that Wyoming's challenge to U.S. EPA's takeover of greenhouse gas permitting in the state should be handled by the the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Wyoming had wanted the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to hear its case, while EPA and environmental groups argued it should be heard by the D.C. Circuit, which specializes in handling regulatory disputes.

A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit today issued an order confirming that it agreed with EPA's position.

Wyoming is disputing EPA's "SIP Call," which asked states to show that they could start overseeing greenhouse gas emissions through their state-run air pollution programs.

States that lacked the authority or ability to follow the new rules under their existing state implementation plans (SIPs) needed to use a federally designed plan or hand the reins over to EPA.

Under the new rules that took effect on Jan. 2, companies are required to get a permit for their greenhouse gas emissions before they can start construction on large industrial projects.

The D.C. Circuit is already considering a similar challenge brought by Texas that was transferred from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Greenwire, March 28).

The two cases could now be dealt with together, which would be "more efficient," said Sean Donahue, a lawyer representing the Environmental Defense Fund in the case.

The Washington, D.C.-based court is also overseeing the much bigger series of cases challenging the Obama administration's greenhouse gas regulations (Greenwire, March 23).

Click here to read the 10th Circuit's order.