The Tenth Circuit denied environmental groups' petition to review an EPA rule that partially approved Colorado's SIP to reduce ozone pollution. The groups sought vacatur of the approval, arguing the Agency violated the CAA by approving the reasonable further progress and motor vehicle emissions budg...
The D.C. Circuit vacated certain requirements under an EPA rule concerning the assertion and treatment of confidential business information (CBI) claims for information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Agency under TSCA. Trade groups challenged the rule, arguing it allowed for unlawful discl...
A district court granted in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a CAA citizen suit concerning EPA's duty to update emissions standards for hazardous waste combustors. The groups sought declaratory judgment stating that EPA failed to comply with its obligations and injunctive re...
The Fifth Circuit granted EPA's motion to vacate its disapprovals of portions of regional haze SIPs submitted by Texas and Oklahoma and the issuance of federal implementation plans (FIPs) establishing a long-term strategy and/or reasonable progress goals for the states. EPA argued that because key d...
A district court granted EPA's motion to dismiss a TSCA citizen suit brought by environmental groups concerning fluorination. The groups sought to compel EPA to prohibit the company's fluorination practices, which produced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of carcinogenic chemicals...
The Sixth Circuit vacated EPA's 2023 disapproval of a SIP proposed by Kentucky to comply with Agency changes to ozone NAAQS. Kentucky challenged the disapproval, which rested on different modeling that came out after the Agency's deadline for submitting the plan and on a lower threshold than the one...
In a per curiam opinion, a divided en banc Fifth Circuit affirmed a district court's civil penalty award of $14.25 million against an oil company in a long-running dispute concerning alleged CAA permit violations at an industrial complex in Baytown, Texas. Environmental groups had filed a CAA citize...
In an unpublished opinion, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court's order remanding to state court a lawsuit concerning a Michigan airport's use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). Michigan's attorney general (AG) and Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy sued in state court, argu...
A district court denied in part and dismissed in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning the use of seeds treated with pesticides. The groups petitioned EPA to subject treated seeds to FIFRA, arguing the Agency could not exempt them from a separate registration...
A district court held that fluoridation of water at 0.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L), the level presently considered “optimal” in the United States, posed an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children. Anti-fluoride groups and individuals had petitioned EPA under TSCA to regulate the fluoridatio...