Weekly Cases Update Volume 45, Issue 2

The cases listed below appear in the most recent issue of ELR's Weekly Update. For cases previously reported, please use the filter on the left.

Volume 44, Issue 36

ELR 2027512-1321(D.C. Cir., )

The D.C. Circuit held that EPA's regulations implementing the 2008 NAAQS for ozone exceed the Agency’s authority under the CAA. In 2008, EPA revised and strengthened the standards for ozone pursuant to the CAA.

Keywords:
Review and revision, §109(d)
ELR 20277H-10-4969(S.D. Tex., )

A district court dismissed individuals' CAA citizen suit against an oil company for emission violations at the company's refinery, olefins plant, and chemical plant in Baytown, Texas. It is undisputed the company violated some emission standards or limitations under its Title V permit.

Keywords:
Citizen suits, §304, Penalty assessment criteria, §113(e)
ELR 2027212-2853 et al.(7th Cir., )

The Seventh Circuit denied a petition for review challenging EPA’s decisions to redesignate three geographic areas—Milwaukee-Racine, Greater Chicago, and the Illinois portion of the St. Louis area—as having attained the 1997 NAAQS for ozone.

Keywords:
Designation as attainment/nonattainment
ELR 2026813-719(U.S., )

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court erred in remanding to state court landowners' class action lawsuit seeking compensation for damages they sustained when an energy company allegedly underpaid royalties due under certain oil and gas leases.

Keywords:
Energy (generally), Removal
ELR 2026712-55484(9th Cir., )

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit brought under the Alien Tort Statute and California tort law against a petroleum company alleging it should be held liable for war crimes committed by members of the Colombian National Army’s 18th Brigade.

Keywords:
Political question doctrine
ELR 202732014 ND 236(N.D., )

The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld an administrative law judge's (ALJ's) award of benefits in the death of an oil-tank worker.

Keywords:
Energy (generally), Toxic Substances (generally)
ELR 2027813-5228(D.C. Cir., )

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's denial of a petition filed by 101 environmental groups asking the Agency to regulate spent lead bullets and shot under TSCA.

Keywords:
Lead, Judicial review
ELR 2026913-40317(5th Cir., )

The Fifth Circuit denied a motion to rehear its earlier decision that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) did not cause the unlawful take of endangered whooping cranes in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in violation of ESA §9.

Keywords:
"Take," §9(a)(1)(B), Whooping cranes
ELR 2027012-16916(9th Cir., )

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of the federal government on claims that it violated ESA, NEPA, and National Forest Management Act in connection with its approval of a lumber thinning and fuel reduction project in northern California.

Keywords:
Northern spotted owl, National forests
ELR 2027108-1881(D.D.C., )

A district court refused to vacate a biological opinion issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in which it determined that the operation of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery would not jeopardize the continued existence of the Northwest Atlantic population segment of loggerhead sea

Keywords:
Biological opinion, §7(b), Sea turtles

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