The U.S. Court of Appeals today largely upheld the Bush Administration's controversial revisions to the "New Source Review" regulations under the Clean Air Act. The full 73-page opinion is here. It's not a total win for the Bush Administration, to be sure, as some portions of the revisions were struck down. But it nonetheless illustrates how many of the environmentalist attacks on the Bush revisions were unfounded. Combined with the 4th Circuit's recent decision on NSR enforcement, the decision is definitely a setback for those opposing Clean Air Act reform.

UPDATE: The AP covers the decision here.

SECOND UPDATE: How Appealing has a round up of news stories on the decision here. It's interesting that some environmental groups and those states that challenged the NSR rules are claiming victory. When the Bush Administration proposed their rules, environmentalists and northeastern states charged the rules were illegal and would cause dramatic increases in air pollution. Now, in the wake of a Fourth Circuit ruling that utilities have more leeway to modify their operations than environmentalists and the Clinton EPA had claimed, the D.C. Circuit has upheld the vast bulk of the Bush Administration revisions, and Greens are pretending to be pleased as punch. They can't have it both ways. Either they were exaggerating before, or now they are spinning to cover a disastrous loss. Personally, I'm inclined toward the former. As I explained here, I never considered the EPA's revisions to be that big of a deal.