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 denied a petition to review FERC's authorization of an owner's request to surrender its license for a hydroelectric project on the Salmon Falls River between New Hampshire and Maine. A conservation group initially requested rehearing of the authorization, arguing the two dams from t...

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...

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...

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the U.S. government in a lawsuit concerning a plan to construct a large-scale commercial offshore wind energy facility off of Martha's Vineyard. Several entities associated with the commercial fishing industry challenged the approval process, asserting...

A district court on remand permanently enjoined the Public Utility Commission of Texas from enforcing a 2019 state law that limited the ability to build, own, or operate new transmission lines to owners of existing transmission facilities in Texas, in areas of the state not covered by the main grid ...

The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, denied petitions to review FERC's orders requiring a generator to upgrade its circuit breaker in order for another power source to safely connect to the regional transmission grid and requiring the new source to compensate the generator for direct costs of the upgrade. The gen...

A district court denied industry groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to California's adoption of an emissions regulation for railroads operating within the state. The groups argued that the regulation, which would require companies to phase out locomotives that are more than 23 years ...