The Ninth Circuit held that EPA's approval of the 2004 SIP for the San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area for the one-hour ozone NAAQS was arbitrary and capricious. Although it approved the SIP in 2010, EPA's approval was based on data current only as of 2004. By approving the 2004 SIP despite kn...

A district court dismissed an automobile engine manufacturer's lawsuit against EPA seeking to force the Agency to recall model year 2010 heavy-duty diesel engines equipped with liquid, urea-based selective catalyst reduction (SCR) technology for failing to comply with CAA emissions standards. Th...

A district court held that oil and gas companies should not be criminally charged under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) for the death of migratory birds found in North Dakota oil fields. The MBTA, as broadly interpreted by the U.S. government, offers unlimited potential for criminal prosec...

The Ninth Circuit denied a chemical company's petitions for review challenging EPA's partial disapproval of a proposed revision to Montana's SIP governing sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, its 1993 "SIP Call" that started the review process, and the Agency's 2008 federal implementation plan (FIP) reme...

A district court vacated EPA's stay of two rules setting forth emission standards from boilers and commercial and industrial solid waste incineration units. EPA issued the rules on March 21, 2011, and shortly thereafter several parties filed petitions for review challenging the legal sufficiency of ...

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a petition challenging an air district's abatement order directing the owners of an open-pit mining operation to cease operation of the central plant equipment and all internal combustion engines with a rating greater than 5...

A district court held that Washington state must establish reasonably available control technology (RACT) for greenhouse gas emissions. Based on its plain language, the RACT provision contained in Washington's federally approved SIP is not discretionary and requires the state's agencies to estab...

The Federal Claims Court dismissed a water district's claim that certain operating restrictions on a water project imposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service under the ESA to protect endangered steelhead trout is a physical taking entitling it to compensation under the Fifth Amendment. The res...