A district court ordered EPA to promulgate revised CAA emission standards for nine industrial sectors by October 1, 2021. Environmental groups wanted the overdue rulemakings to be completed within two years, while the Agency requested seven years. The court determined that three and a half years was...

The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's 2012 regional haze rule, which seeks to restore air quality and visibility in certain national parks and wilderness areas to what they would be under natural conditions. The rule requires states to impose best available retrofit technology (BART) on certain stationary p...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions concerning EPA's NESHAPs for industrial boilers. The first challenge raised by environmental groups concerned regulations that indirectly control a group of organic pollutants by limiting carbon monoxide emissions as a proxy for the targe...

The D.C. Circuit held that EPA unlawfully revoked the 1997 ozone NAAQS when it implemented the 2008 standard. In 2008, EPA set the ozone NAAQS at 75 parts per billion (ppb). In 2015, when implementing the standard, the Agency eliminated the 1997 standard of 84 ppb on the grounds that it was impossib...

A district court held that EPA failed to act when it did not rule within 60 days on Connecticut's petition concerning upwind pollution. In June 2016, Connecticut filed a petition pursuant to §126(b) of the CAA for EPA to make a finding that Brunner Island is emitting air pollutants that significant...

The Federal Circuit held that the state of California did not infringe on an emissions trading-related patent, allowing the state's greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade program to continue. The plaintiff owns a U.S. patent that covers a method and apparatus for using electronic systems to claim an...

A district court held that owners of Volkswagen-branded franchise dealerships could move forward with their suit against an auto parts manufacturer over its alleged role in the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. The dealers contended that the manufacturer conspired with Volkswagen to help create a...

The D.C. Circuit held that EPA did not violate the CAA by modifying, without notice and comment, its prior understandings of how to measure a proposed transportation project’s impact on ambient levels of particulate matter. In 2006, EPA revised “hot spot" regulations for fine particulate matter....

A district court held that BLM violated the APA when it postponed compliance with Obama-era greenhouse gas emission rules. Several states and tribal citizen groups brought suit against BLM when it published a notice in the Federal Register postponing compliance dates for certain sections of the Wast...

The Washington state Shorelines Hearing Board denied plans to build a methanol refinery on the Columbia River because the plans failed to adequately consider greenhouse gas emissions. A manufacturing company proposed to manufacture methanol from natural gas supplied by a lateral pipeline, with the m...