The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's revised NESHAPs for secondary lead smelting facilities. In 2012, acting pursuant to CAA §§112(d)(6) and 112(f)(2), EPA revised the 1995 emissions standards for secondary lead smelting facilities, reducing allowable emissions by 90% and requiring smelters to totally en...

A district court dismissed a city's lawsuit against California state and local air districts challenging fees it must pay to mitigate wind-blown dust from a dry lake bed that exceed state and federal air standards. Section 42316 of the California Health and Safety Code authorized the district to ord...

The Ninth Circuit, in an amended opinion, denied an environmental group's petition challenging EPA's decision to grant two air permits authorizing exploratory drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean by a drillship and its associated fleet of support vessels. The permits require the drillship to comp...

A district court held that EPA has no mandatory or nondiscretionary duty to make a determination as to whether lead emissions from general aviation aircraft engines using aviation gasoline endanger the public health or welfare under CAA §231(a)(2)(A). A finding that emissions cause or contribute to...

The Sixth Circuit held that the CAA does not categorically prevent EPA from challenging preconstruction projections of whether and to what extent emissions will increase following construction. The preconstruction projection determines whether the project constitutes a “major modification” and t...

The Eleventh Circuit vacated EPA's 2011 disapproval of Alabama SIP provisions on opacity, thereby reinstating EPA's 2008 approval of opacity limits. EPA's 2011 disapproval was unauthorized by the CAA because EPA failed to make the statutorily required error determination. Neither the text of the fin...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's 2012 projection of cellulosic biofuel production under the renewable fuel standard (RFS) program. As part of the RFS program, CAA §211(o)(7)(D)(i) requires EPA to determine the "projected volume of cellulosic biofuel production" for each calendar year based on an esti...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed a road building association's lawsuit challenging EPA regulations for nonroad engines and vehicles. The regulations pertain to CAA §209(e), which preempts certain state regulation of nonroad engines. The association petitioned EPA to amend those regulations to broaden the...

The D.C. Circuit ordered EPA to repromulgate two final rules it issued under the CAA concerning the implementation of the NAAQS for fine particulate matter (PM). Environmental groups challenged EPA's decision to issue the rules pursuant to the general implementation provisions of Subpart 1 of Part D...

The Ninth Circuit denied an environmental group's petition challenging EPA's decision to grant two air permits authorizing exploratory drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean by a drillship and its associated fleet of support vessels. The permits require the drillship to comply with best available c...