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 ...
An Arizona court overturned the state's issuance of an air permit for a proposed open-pit copper mine. An environmental group argued that the state's approval of the permit was arbitrary and capricious because the mine has the potential to violate NAAQS. They also claimed that the mine's modeling re...
The Ninth Circuit denied an environmental group's petition challenging EPA's approval of a revision to California's SIP. The revision provided alternative "not less stringent" controls to what is required in CAA §185's antibacksliding measures, which require that major stationary sources of polluti...
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of a trucking association's federal preemption challenge to a California environmental regulation on diesel trucks. The regulation requires heavy-duty diesel trucks, whose emissions contribute significantly to particulate matter and ozone pollution, to be upgra...
A district court dismissed EPA's lawsuit against an Oklahoma utility under the CAA alleging that it failed to properly project whether modifications made to two coal-fired power plants would result in an increase in emissions. The plants were constructed before Congress enacted the PSD program. As a...
The Seventh Circuit denied a petition for review challenging EPA’s decisions to redesignate three geographic areas—Milwaukee-Racine, Greater Chicago, and the Illinois portion of the St. Louis area—as having attained the 1997 NAAQS for ozone. Before redesignating an area, the CAA requires EPA t...
A district court dismissed individuals' CAA citizen suit against an oil company for emission violations at the company's refinery, olefins plant, and chemical plant in Baytown, Texas. It is undisputed the company violated some emission standards or limitations under its Title V permit. Indeed, it is...