Texas v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit denied states' and industry groups' petitions challenging EPA rules establishing CAA permitting requirements in states that do not have implementation plans for greenhouse gases. The rules were designed to ensure that a permitting authority was available to issue the required greenh...
Poet v. California Air Resources Board
A California appellate court held that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) violated the California APA and the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when it adopted its Low Carbon Fuel Standards (LCFS) regulations to reduce the carbon content of transportation fuels sold, supplied, or of...
Asarco LLC v. Union Pacific Railroad Co.
A district court held that a settlement agreement bars a mining corporation from seeking contribution from a railroad company under CERCLA for environmental liability related to the Omaha Lead Superfund site in Omaha, Nebraska. Both parties owned the site at different times between 1871 and 1997. It...
Waldburger v. CTS Corp
The Fourth Circuit held that the discovery rule set forth in CERCLA §309 preempts North Carolina's 10-year limitation on the accrual of real property claims. The case arose after landowners filed a nuisance action against a corporation for allegedly contaminating their well water with concentrated ...
Center for Biological Diversity v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA rule that deferred regulation of biogenic carbon dioxide—non-fossil-fuel carbon dioxide sources such as ethanol—for three years. Although the "Deferral Rule" is a temporary regulation, it functions, in effect, as a permanent exemption from the PSD permitting requi...
United States v. D.S.C. of Newark Enterprises, Inc
A district court held, in an unpublished opinion, that a company that sold its facility, including equipment that contained asbestos dust and waste, may not be held liable as an owner or operator or as an arranger under CERCLA. Nearly 20 years after the company sold the site, the new owner abandoned...
Montana Environmental Information Center v. United States Bureau of Land Management
A district court dismissed environmental groups' claims that BLM failed to adequately consider climate change, global warming, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in violation of NEPA before it approved oil and gas leases on federal land in Montana in 2008 and 2010. The groups argued that BLM's failure to f...
American Trucking Ass'ns v. Los Angeles, City of
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...