Columbia Riverkeeper v. Cowlitz City
The Washington state Shorelines Hearing Board denied plans to build a methanol refinery on the Columbia River because the plans failed to adequately consider greenhouse gas emissions. A manufacturing company proposed to manufacture methanol from natural gas supplied by a lateral pipeline, with the m...
Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA
A district court ordered EPA to issue infrastructure requirements for the 2012 fine particulate matter NAAQS for five states within 90 days. In 2015, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island missed their deadlines to present compliance plans for the 2012 fine p...
Mays v. Flint, City of
The Sixth Circuit held that residents of Flint, Michigan, may pursue class claims against state actors in state court. In January 2016, several plaintiffs filed a class-action lawsuit in state court stemming from the Flint water crisis. In April 2016, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality...
Manitoba, Province of v. DOI
A district court held that the Bureau of Reclamation (Bureau) did not violate NEPA when it decided to proceed with a water supply project. In 2002, the Province of Manitoba sued under NEPA to prevent the Bureau from proceeding with the Northwest Area Water Supply Project (NAWS), arguing that an Apri...
Natl. Parks Conserv. Assn. v. EPA
A district court denied EPA's request to amend a 2012 consent decree obligating the Agency to approve state regional haze plans. In 2011, environmental groups sued the Agency to compel it to take action on nine states' regional haze plans. Under a consent decree, EPA was given until September 9, 201...
Sierra Club v. North Dakota
The Ninth Circuit upheld a 2014 EPA settlement that required the Agency to set a phased schedule for it to issue air quality designations as required by a 2010 sulfur dioxide NAAQS. In 2013, when EPA missed the statutory deadline to issue its designations under the CAA, environmental groups sued to ...
Sierra Club v. FERC
The D.C. Circuit held that carbon emissions from gas-burning power plants should have been considered in federal regulators’ review of a Florida natural gas pipeline. Environmental groups and landowners challenged a FERC decision to approve the construction and operation of three new interstate na...
Sinclair Wyoming Refining Co. v. EPA
The Tenth Circuit rejected EPA's decision to deny an oil company's request for an exemption from the blending requirement under the Renewable Fuel Standards Program of the CAA. In 2005, Congress amended the CAA to require refiners and importers to blend biofuels into gasoline to cut down on greenhou...
Benoit v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp.
A district court allowed suits against two manufacturing companies to go forward for groundwater contamination. Residents of Hoosick Falls, New York, brought suit against the manufacturers after they discovered perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in their water supply. The residents, in 16 consolidated ca...