The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA final rule that exempted farms from reporting requirements for air releases from animal waste. In 2008 the EPA issued a final rule that generally exempts farms from CERCLA and EPCRA reporting requirements for air releases from animal waste, reasoning that the reports ...
A California Appeals Court upheld a state cap-and-trade regime against challenges from the state commerce board and affected industry players. In 2006, California passed the California Global Warming Solutions Act, which aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To achieve the goals of the act,...
A district court ruled that an insurance company owes no coverage for injuries from a carbon monoxide leak. A construction company allegedly negligently installed ventilation for a natural gas pool heater and failed to warn against the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning if the vents were not properl...
A district court ruled that an insurance company owes no coverage for injuries from a carbon monoxide leak. A construction company allegedly negligently installed ventilation for a natural gas pool heater and failed to warn against the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning if the vents were not properl...
The Fourth Circuit upheld over $22 million in damages that an energy company was ordered to pay to a Virginia utility because the coal supplied to a new power plant was of such poor quality it couldn't initially be used. When the plant was commissioned, the utility entered into an option contract to...
The Ninth Circuit held that BLM violated NEPA when it approved a proposed molybdenum mining operation near Eureka, Nevada. Environmental groups filed suit against BLM, challenging the agency's analysis of the project's cumulative air impacts and the baseline levels of certain air pollutants, and the...
The Supreme Court of Texas held that the Texas Clean Air Act and the Act’s enforcement mechanisms in the Texas Water Code preempt a Houston air-quality ordinance. The Houston ordinance’s enforcement provisions are inconsistent with the statutory enforcement requirements. The ordinance allows cri...
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down portions of the Los Angeles port's "Clean Truck Program," which was designed in part to reduce emissions related to port operations, including emissions from trucks. The concession agreements implementing the plan set forth a number of provisions covering, among ot...
A district court dismissed a nonprofit group's lawsuit seeking to halt EPA studies that expose humans to fine particulate matter. The challenged EPA conduct does not constitute final agency action. EPA's alleged failure to comply with an agency rule does not constitute "agency action". And even if i...
A California appellate court upheld a local air district rule that requires manufacturers of consumer paint thinner and solvent products to limit the use of ozone-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their products. The district issued to rule to satisfy its federal CAA commitments. A pa...