The Ninth Circuit granted citizen groups' petition for review of a final action by EPA approving in part and disapproving in part revisions to California's SIP for meeting CAA air quality standards for ozone. EPA's failure to order California to submit a revised attainment plan for the South...
The Third Circuit dismissed a petition for review of an EPA letter opining that facilities operated by a landfill and a neighboring energy company were under common control for purposes of air emissions permitting. The landfill owner challenged EPA's determination under CAA §307(b)(1), whic...
A California court issued a tentative ruling that would require the California Air Resources Board to set aside its "functional equivalent document" that evaluates the environmental consequences of its climate change scoping plan and to enjoin implementation of the scoping plan until the age...
The Ninth Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt a California air pollution district rule requiring development sites to reduce the amount of pollutants they emit. CAA §209(e)(1) only preempts those standards or requirements relating to the control of emissions from "new" construction e...
The Fifth Circuit held that an energy company's current and ongoing construction of a coal-fired power plant, for which no maximum achievable control technology (MACT) determination has ever been made, violates CAA §112(g). In ordinary circumstances, there would be no question as to whether...
The D.C. Circuit denied medical waste trade associations' petition for review challenging EPA's performance standards for new and existing hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators (HMIWI). The associations argued that the data set EPA used to establish the standards was flawed. But EPA's ...
The Fourth Circuit held that the Tax Injunction Act does not bar the owner of a power plant from challenging an excise tax on carbon dioxide emissions. A lower court ruled that it lacked jurisdiction under the Tax Injunction Act because the carbon charge was a tax. But of all the carbon dioxide...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the CAA displaces any federal common law right to seek abatement of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil-fuel fired power plants. A group of states, private land trusts, and a city a filed suit against four power companies and the TVA claiming that their e...
The Seventh Circuit denied environmental groups' petitions challenging EPA's approval of revisions to Wisconsin's new source review program. In 2002, EPA changed the rules that determine when polluters need permits in order to modify existing facilities—and, if they need permits, what restrictions...