Title 42The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-73

§4915 Judicial review

Title 42 › Chapter CHAPTER 65— - NOISE CONTROL › § 4915

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

If you want to challenge certain EPA rules (those under sections 4905, 4916, 4917, or 4907) or an FAA rule under section 44715 of title 49, you must file your petition only in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. You must file it within 90 days after the rule is made, unless your challenge is based only on something that happened after those 90 days. If a rule could have been reviewed this way, you cannot raise the same challenge later in other civil or criminal enforcement cases. If a party asks the court to allow new evidence and shows it was unavailable at the agency hearing and is important, the court can send that evidence back to the agency to be taken and considered. The agency can change its findings or make new ones and must file those with the court along with the new evidence. A court may not stay (pause) an agency action unless the requester is likely to win the case and would suffer irreparable harm. The EPA Administrator may issue subpoenas for witnesses and documents, administer oaths, and witnesses get the same fees and mileage as in U.S. courts. A federal district court can order compliance and punish contempt if someone disobeys.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §4915

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)A petition for review of action of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in promulgating any standard or regulation under section 4905, 4916, or 4917 of this title or any labeling regulation under section 4907 of this title may be filed only in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and a petition for review of action of the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration in promulgating any standard or regulation under section 44715 of title 49 may be filed only in such court. Any such petition shall be filed within ninety days from the date of such promulgation, or after such date if such petition is based solely on grounds arising after such ninetieth day. Action of either Administrator with respect to which review could have been obtained under this subsection shall not be subject to judicial review in civil or criminal proceedings for enforcement.
(b)If a party seeking review under this chapter applies to the court for leave to adduce additional evidence, and shows to the satisfaction of the court that the information is material and was not available at the time of the proceeding before the Administrator of such Agency or Administration (as the case may be), the court may order such additional evidence (and evidence in rebuttal thereof) to be taken before such Administrator, and to be adduced upon the hearing, in such manner and upon such terms and conditions as the court may deem proper. Such Administrator may modify his findings as to the facts, or make new findings, by reason of the additional evidence so taken, and he shall file with the court such modified or new findings, and his recommendation, if any, for the modification or setting aside of his original order, with the return of such additional evidence.
(c)With respect to relief pending review of an action by either Administrator, no stay of an agency action may be granted unless the reviewing court determines that the party seeking such stay is (1) likely to prevail on the merits in the review proceeding and (2) will suffer irreparable harm pending such proceeding.
(d)For the purpose of obtaining information to carry out this chapter, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may issue subpenas for the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of relevant papers, books, and documents, and he may administer oaths. Witnesses summoned shall be paid the same fees and mileage that are paid witnesses in the courts of the United States. In cases of contumacy or refusal to obey a subpena served upon any person under this subsection, the district court of the United States for any district in which such person is found or resides or transacts business, upon application by the United States and after notice to such person, shall have jurisdiction to issue an order requiring such person to appear and give testimony before the Administrator, to appear and produce papers, books, and documents before the Administrator, or both, and any failure to obey such order of the court may be punished by such court as a contempt thereof.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification In subsec. (a), “section 44715 of title 49” substituted for “section 611 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958” on authority of Pub. L. 103–272, § 6(b), July 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 1378, the first section of which enacted subtitles II, III, and V to X of Title 49, Transportation.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 4915

Title 42The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73