Midwest Ozone Group v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C Circuit denied an industry group's challenge to EPA's 2021 rule requiring power plants in several upwind states to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions. The group argued the rule was arbitrary and capricious, and that EPA failed to conduct a legally and technically appropriate assessment as requi...
The Oak Ridge Cleanup: Protecting the Public or the Polluter?
The Oak Ridge Reservation is one of the largest U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities in the country, with areas that are highly contaminated by chemicals, metals, and radionuclides. DOE is in the middle of a multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar cleanup there, and a recent Superfund decision for one portion of the site raises a number of significant legal issues. This Article addresses some related questions: Should radionuclides get less stringent cleanup than other equally harmful pollutants like mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls?
Sierra Club v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Sixth Circuit granted a petition to review EPA's removal of an air nuisance rule from Ohio's SIP. Environmental groups and individuals argued that EPA violated the CAA and APA in removing the rule. EPA moved to remand without vacatur to review its removal of the rule. The court found that vacatu...
Calumet Shreveport Refining, L.L.C. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Fifth Circuit granted small refiners' motion to stay certain compliance obligations under the CAA pending appeal of EPA's decision denying their requested hardship exemptions from the Act's Renewable Fuel Standard obligations. The refiners argued EPA's late 2021 interpretation of CAA provisions ...
Waste and Chemical Management in a 4°C World
Many chemicals and hazardous substances are kept in places that can withstand ordinary rain, but not severe storms or floods. If these events occur and the chemicals are released, people and the environment may be endangered. This Article discusses the hazards posed to chemical and waste disposal facilities by extreme weather events that would be worsened as a result of climate change, and how U.S. laws do (or do not) deal with these hazards; and considers how the law would need to change to cope with what would happen to these facilities in a potentially 4°C world.