In Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., where the EPA's "bubble rule" for measuring pollution from an industrial facility was challenged, the Supreme Court held that:
A) since Congress directly addressed the issue of the bubble policy it was not up to the EPA whether or not to use it
B) since Congress directly addressed the issue of the bubble policy it was up to the EPA whether or not to use it
C) since Congress did not directly address the issue of the bubble policy so it was up to the EPA whether or not to use it
D) since the EPA is not subject to regulation by Congress, it can have whatever policy it wants
E) since Congress gave the EPA special permission to enact whatever policy it wants, the EPA can have the bubble policy if it wants

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Supreme Court held that because Congress had not directly addressed the specific issue of the "bubble policy" in the Clean Air Act, it was up to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to interpret the statute and decide whether to implement the policy. This established the principle of Chevron deference, where courts defer to a federal agency's interpretation of an ambiguous law that the agency administers.