The D.C. Circuit vacated and remanded an EPA decision denying an oil refinery's request to extend its exemption from the Agency's renewable fuels program. The program requires oil refineries to meet annual obligations concerning the production of renewable fuels. A small refinery located in Newcastl...
The D.C. Circuit denied petitions for review challenging EPA's disapproval of a revision to Kansas' proposed SIP revision for the 2006 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) NAAQS. EPA disapproved the SIP revision because the submission lacked the required technical analysis evaluating whether the projecte...
The D.C. Circuit denied petitions for review of EPA decisions regarding nonattainment designations under the 2008 ozone NAAQS. Several states, counties, industrial entities, and environmental organizations petitioned the court challenging EPA's determination that certain geographic areas are, or are...
The Ninth Circuit held that EPA violated the CAA when it approved California SIPs concerning NAAQS for ozone and fine particulate matter in the San Joaquin Valley. The SIPs relied on state-adopted mobile emissions standards to achieve their emission reduction goals. But the SIPs approved by EPA did ...
The Ninth Circuit denied community groups' petition for review challenging EPA's approval of revisions to California's SIP concerning air emissions from pesticides, known as the "pesticide element." The revisions related to the reduction of volatile organic compounds in the San Joaquin and Ventura a...
The D.C. Circuit reversed and vacated a portion of a January 2013 rule in which EPA revised the NESHAPs and new source performance standards for backup generators. Specifically, the court held that EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously when it modified the NESHAPs and NSPS to allow backup generator...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed petitions challenging EPA's and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) coordinated rules governing the greenhouse gas emissions and fuel economy of cars and trucks. One group of petitioners—businesses, associations, and individuals located in Cali...
The D.C. Circuit, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, No. 12-1146, 44 ELR 20132 (2014), amended a prior decision in which it upheld four EPA rulemakings governing greenhouse gases (GHGs). The four rules are: (1) EPA's endangerment finding, in which i...
A district court held that coal companies have standing in their CAA lawsuit against EPA for failing to evaluate the potential for job losses stemming from the Agency's CAA regulation and enforcement efforts. The coal companies alleged that EPA's actions have had a coercive effect on the power gener...
The Sixth Circuit denied a cement company's petition to vacate an EPA rule requiring it to add more stringent air pollution controls at one of its portland-cement plants. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment had previously deemed the plant's pollution controls sufficient and ...