News & Analysis In the Courts
Volume 54 Issue 10
The D.C. Circuit denied a chemical manufacturer's and two trade groups' petitions to review EPA's 2020 rule regulating emissions from miscellaneous organic chemical manufacturing facilities. The petitioners challenged EPA's assessment of cancer risk from exposure to ethylene oxide emissions. The cou...
In a per curiam opinion, the D.C. Circuit dismissed in part and denied in part challenges to EPA's 2022 denial of pending Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) exemption petitions filed by small refineries. EPA had determined the only costs relevant to showing economic hardship were those caused by complian...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part a trade group's petition to review the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA's) 2022 revised safety standards for natural gas transportation. The group challenged five of the standards, alleging flaws in the rulemaking pro...
The Third Circuit reversed a ruling that held FIFRA did not preempt state-law tort duties to include a cancer warning on a weedkiller label. A landscaper had argued the agrochemicals company that produces the weedkiller violated Pennsylvania law by omitting the cancer warning from its label. The app...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit reversed a lower court's vacatur of an incidental take statement (ITS) issued by NMFS authorizing a troll fishery in Alaska to harvest Chinook salmon despite potential reduction in prey for the endangered southern resident killer whale, and affirmed its d...
A district court granted summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to NMFS' biological opinion (BiOp) on the impact of oil and gas extraction in the Gulf of Mexico on protected marine life. The groups argued NMFS violated the APA and the ESA by issuing a flawed BiOp that underestimate...
A district court affirmed BLM's resource management plan (RMP) amendment and record of decision (ROD) concerning wild horse management in southern Wyoming. Conservation and wild horse advocate groups argued BLM's decision to revert two herd management areas to "herd area" status, of which the approp...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part challenges to FERC orders reauthorizing two liquefied natural gas export terminals in Texas and a pipeline that would carry natural gas to one of them. The city of Port Isabel and an environmental group argued FERC failed to comply with NEPA and Na...
A district court granted in part and denied in part summary judgment for environmental groups in a challenge to FWS' 2020 revised 12-month finding on a petition to list the Upper Missouri River distinct population segment of arctic grayling. The groups argued FWS failed to analyze the adequacy of ex...
A district court granted summary judgment for conservation groups in a challenge to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') recent update to a program concerning the use of pesticides to suppress grasshopper and cricket outbreaks. The groups argued APHIS' 2019 EIS and five state-le...