A district court entered judgment for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) with respect to environmental groups’ claims that the TVA violated the CAA and the Tennessee SIP in its operation of a fossil fuel-fired electricity generating facility. The groups argued that two projects, the economiz...

The Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) did not act arbitrarily, capriciously, or contrary to law when it granted Nevada's request to split one of its clean air areas into two. Contrary to an environmental group's claim, the presence and operation of a mine in the ...

The court remanded portions of a 2002 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule interpreting when a major stationary source undertakes a "modification," thereby triggering the Clean Air Act's new source review (NSR) requirements. EPA erred in promulgating the clean unit applicability test, whi...

The court affirms a district court's grant of summary judgment to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) on environmental groups' request for civil penalties and on its claim as to violations of the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) 20% opacity limitation occurring before May 20, 1999, but it reversed summary j...

The court reverses the dismissal of an individual's complaint against his employer under the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) whistleblower provision. The U.S. Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board (ARB) dismissed the complaint reasoning that the individual did not engage in a protected activity ...

A court holds that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) violated the Energy Policy Act in refusing to require large private and municipal fleets of motor vehicles to use alternative fuel vehicles. The Energy Policy Act, which was designed to reduce air pollution, global warming, and U.S. dependence o...

The court upheld the Atomic Safety Licensing Board's dismissal of environmental groups' intervention in early site permit proceedings for new nuclear power facilities in Clinton, Illinois. The groups contended, among other things, that the applicant failed to adequately consider energy efficiency or...

The Court reversed the Fourth Circuit's grant of summary judgment in favor of a coal-fired power plant operator charged with violating the Clean Air Act's (CAA's) prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) regulations. The CAA's PSD and new source performance standards (NSPS) provisions both cove...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that the Clean Air Act (CAA) does not preempt certain provisions of local "fleet rules" requiring operators to meet specified emission standards or engine requirements, but reversed and remanded the court's refusal to consider whether the CAA preempt...

The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction enjoining the California Air Resources Board from enforcing state regulations that limit emissions from the auxiliary diesel engines of ocean-going vessels within 24 miles of California's coast. Clean Air Act (CAA) §209(e)(2)(A) requires California to obta...