New Jersey v. Wheeler
A district court granted states' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning EPA's duty to limit air pollution drifting from upwind states into northeastern states. Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York argued that EPA failed to fulfill a nondiscretionary duty under ...
Environment Texas Citizen Lobby, Inc. v. ExxonMobil Corp.
The Fifth Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision that imposed penalties against an oil company for alleged CAA permit violations at its industrial complex in Baytown, Texas. Environmental groups filed a CAA citizen suit against the company, alleging violations that occurred thousands of...
New York v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's denial of New York's petition concerning cross-border pollution from nine upwind states. The state had asked EPA to find that power-generating and other facilities in the nine states were violating the CAA's "good neighbor" provision by producing emissions that contrib...
Clean Wisconsin v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions to review EPA's attainment designations for its 2015 ozone NAAQS. Environmental groups, municipal governments, and the state of Illinois argued that the Agency failed to follow its own scientific and technical record when it decided that ...
National Parks Conservation Ass'n v. North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality
The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling upholding the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality's issuance of an air quality permit to construct a refinery. A conservation group argued the Department's omission of an enforceable permit limit for hazardous air pollutants (...
Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future v. Wheeler
A district court dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction a suit concerning EPA's CAA obligations to regulate pollution from coke ovens. Environmental groups argued the CAA required EPA to perform a risk assessment every time it revised its technology-based standards for a hazardous polluti...
Sierra Club v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Tenth Circuit held that EPA erred in denying an environmental group's petition to review the renewal of a state-issued Title V operating permit for a coal-fired power plant in Utah. The group's petition argued that EPA should object to the renewal because it failed to "assure compliance" with al...
Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County v. Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court's dismissal of a suit challenging an automobile company's use of diesel-cheat devices to evade compliance with federally mandated emission standards. Two counties argued the company's installation of and modification to the dev...
Environmental Integrity Project v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Fifth Circuit upheld EPA's decision to reject a challenge to a CAA Title V permit it issued for expansion of a plant in Baytown, Texas. Environmental groups requested that EPA reject the permit on the grounds that the underlying Title I preconstruction permit allowing the expansion was invalid. ...