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MICHIGAN v. EPA KAGAN, J., dissenting

whether to upgrade the sound system.” Ante, at 11. The comparison is witty but wholly inapt. To begin with, emissions limits are not a luxury good: They are a safety measure, designed to curtail the significant health and environmental harms caused by power plants spewing hazardous pollutants. And more: EPA knows from past experience and expertise alike that it will have the opportunity to purchase that good in a cost-effective way. A better analogy might be to a car owner who decides without first checking prices that it is “appropriate and necessary” to replace her worn-out brake-pads, aware from prior experience that she has ample time to comparisonshop and bring that purchase within her budget. Faced with a serious hazard and an available remedy, EPA moved forward like that sensible car owner, with a promise that it would, and well-grounded confidence that it could, take costs into account down the line. That about does it for the majority’s opinion, save for its final appeal to Chenery—and Chenery cannot save its holding. See ante, at 14. Of course a court may not uphold agency action on grounds different from those the agency gave. See Chenery, 318 U. S., at 87. But equally, a court may not strike down agency action without considering the reasons the agency gave. Id., at 95. And that is what the majority does. Indeed, it is difficult to know what agency document the majority is reading. It denies that “EPA said. . . that cost-benefit analysis would be deferred until later.” Ante, at 13. But EPA said exactly that: The “costs of controls,” the Agency promised, “will be examined” as “a part of developing a regulation.” 65 Fed. Reg. 79830. Tellingly, these words appear nowhere in the majority’s opinion. But what are they other than a statement that cost concerns, contra the majority, are not “irrelevant,” ante, at 13 (without citation)—that they are simply going to come in later? And for good measure, EPA added still extra explana-