The Fourth Circuit vacated two district court decisions in lawsuits concerning a chemical manufacturer's role in allegedly contaminating Maryland's and South Carolina's waterways by using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in its products. The two states sued in state court, each filing two ...
The D.C. Circuit vacated certain requirements under an EPA rule concerning the assertion and treatment of confidential business information (CBI) claims for information reported to or otherwise obtained by the Agency under TSCA. Trade groups challenged the rule, arguing it allowed for unlawful discl...
A district court granted an electric transmission developer's motion for preliminary injunction against Indiana's 2023 law that granted incumbent transmission owners a right of first refusal to build transmission projects in their service areas. The developer argued the law blocked it from bidding o...
A district court granted EPA's motion to dismiss a TSCA citizen suit brought by environmental groups concerning fluorination. The groups sought to compel EPA to prohibit the company's fluorination practices, which produced per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of carcinogenic chemicals...
A district court granted in part nonprofit and public interest groups' motion for summary judgment in a challenge to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') 2020 rule concerning regulation of genetically engineered (GE) organisms. The groups argued the rule effectively abandoned fe...
In an unpublished opinion, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a district court's order remanding to state court a lawsuit concerning a Michigan airport's use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). Michigan's attorney general (AG) and Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy sued in state court, argu...
A district court denied in part and dismissed in part environmental groups' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning the use of seeds treated with pesticides. The groups petitioned EPA to subject treated seeds to FIFRA, arguing the Agency could not exempt them from a separate registration...
A district court held that fluoridation of water at 0.7 milligrams per liter (mg/L), the level presently considered “optimal” in the United States, posed an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children. Anti-fluoride groups and individuals had petitioned EPA under TSCA to regulate the fluoridatio...
The Third Circuit reversed a ruling that held FIFRA did not preempt state-law tort duties to include a cancer warning on a weedkiller label. A landscaper had argued the agrochemicals company that produces the weedkiller violated Pennsylvania law by omitting the cancer warning from its label. The app...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part a trade group's petition to review the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA's) 2022 revised safety standards for natural gas transportation. The group challenged five of the standards, alleging flaws in the rulemaking pro...