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8 ignore cost.

Statutory context reinforces the relevance of cost. The procedures governing power plants that we consider today appear in §7412(n)(1), which bears the caption “Electric utility steam generating units.” In subparagraph (A), the part of the law that has occupied our attention so far, Congress required EPA to study the hazards to public health posed by power plants and to determine whether regulation is appropriate and necessary. But in subparagraphs (B) and (C), Congress called for two additional studies. One of them, a study into mercury emissions from power plants and other sources, must consider “the health and environmental effects of such emissions, technologies which are available to control such emissions, and the costs of such technologies.” §7412(n)(1)(B) (emphasis added). This directive to EPA to study cost is a further indication of the relevance of cost to the decision to regulate.

In an effort to minimize this express reference to cost, EPA now argues that §7412(n)(1)(A) requires it to consider only the study mandated by that provision, not the separate mercury study, before deciding whether to regulate power plants. But when adopting the regulations before us, the Agency insisted that the provisions concerning all three studies “provide a framework for [EPA’s] determination of whether to regulate [power plants].” 76 Fed. Reg. 24987. It therefore decided “to interpret the scope of the appropriate and necessary finding in the context of all three studies.” 77 Fed. Reg. 9325 (emphasis added). For example:


 * EPA considered environmental effects relevant to the appropriate-and-necessary finding. It deemed the mercury study’s reference to this factor “direct evidence that Congress was concerned with environmental effects.” 76 Fed. Reg. 24987.