The court denied Vermont's motion to dismiss automobile manufacturers' claims that the state's greenhouse gas regulations are either preempted by or violate the Clean Air Act and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. Vermont's regulations are identical to California's standards, which have yet to ...

The Court held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the statutory authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) from new motor vehicles. The case arose after private organizations petitioned EPA to begin regulating four GHGs, including carbon dioxid (CO2), under the Clean Air Act....

The Ninth Circuit denied petitions challenging FERC orders that retroactively reset the market rates that were charged in the California electricity markets during the state's energy crisis of 2000 and 2001. After California deregulated and restructured its electricity market in the mid-1990s, price...

The D.C. Circuit held that trade associations for the engine, petroleum, and food industries lack standing to challenge two EPA decisions approving the introduction of E15—a blend of gasoline and 15 percent ethanol—for use in select motor vehicles and engines. EPA granted "partial" waivers appro...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's transport rule, also known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which sets sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions limits for 28 upwind states based on those states' contributions to downwind states' air quality problems. The CAA's "good neighbor" provision requ...

The Fifth Circuit vacated EPA's disapproval of Texas's flexible permit program under the CAA. Texas submitted the program to EPA as a revision to its SIP and as a new feature of the state's minor new source review (NSR) regime. Under the program, modifications to facilities could be made without add...

The Tenth Circuit dismissed as moot an environmental group's CAA citizen suit against an energy company for building a new coal-fired power plant in Pueblo, Colorado, without a valid construction permit. Although the project initially complied with all applicable federal and state laws when construc...