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 gave the EPA special permission to enact whatever policy it wants, the EPA can have the bubble policy if it wants
D) since the EPA is not subject to regulation by Congress, it can have whatever policy it wants
E) none of the other choices are correct

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The Supreme Court in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. established a two-step process for reviewing administrative agency decisions. The Court held that if Congress has not directly addressed the precise question at issue, the court does not simply impose its own interpretation on the statute. Instead, if the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the court is whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute. This means the correct interpretation is that the Court did not find Congress had directly addressed the bubble policy issue in a way that either allowed or disallowed the EPA's use of it, but rather that the EPA had the authority to interpret the statute. None of the provided choices accurately describe this nuanced decision.