A district court rejected a group of mid-Atlantic states' claims that projects undertaken by an energy company at three of its coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania violated the CAA's prevention of significant deterioration and new source performance standards requirements. The states sought an in...
The Ninth Circuit refused to rehear a case in which it previously ruled that environmental groups lacked standing to compel the Washington State Department of Ecology and other regional agencies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the state's five oil refineries under the CAA. One of the judge...
The D.C. Circuit denied a road building association's petition for review challenging EPA's CAA §209(e) regulations, which preempt certain state regulation of nonroad engines. In general, §209(e) preemption reaches nationwide. California, however, may adopt certain otherwise preempted regulations ...
The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's new source review (NSR) rule for Indian country, which established a federal implementation plan (FIP) covering all Indian country nationwide except where EPA had already approved a tribal NSR program or expressly authorized a SIP to be enforced. Because SIPs did not o...
A district court dismissed Native American and environmental groups' CAA citizen suit asking the court to order EPA to issue a final rule that establishes best available retrofit technology (BART) for the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon. ...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed Arizona's objection to a consent decree that established a timeline for EPA to approve a SIP, or promulgate a federal implementation plan (FIP), that would meet the requirements of the Regional Haze Rule. A lower court held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the objection...
The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA rule establishing nonconformance penalties (NCPs) for on-highway, heavy-duty diesel engines. NCPs are intended to protect "technological laggards" by allowing them to pay a penalty for engines temporarily unable to meet new or revised emission standards. EPA establish...
The D.C. Circuit remanded for reconsideration EPA's revisions to the secondary, welfare-based NAAQS for ozone, but denied petitions challenging revisions to the primary, health-based ozone NAAQS. Primary standards set limits to protect public health, including the health of "sensitive" populations s...
The Michigan Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, upheld the state environmental agency's decision to issue two permits authorizing modifications at a coal-fired power plant. The plant is located in a county that violates the NAAQS for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). An env...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed as moot truck engine manufacturers' lawsuit challenging four certificates of conformity EPA issued to another engine manufacturer pursuant to an interim final rule that allowed certificates to be issued to 2012 and 2013 model-year engines even if the engines fail to confor...