The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's challenge to a CAA permit that allows an oil company to conduct "pollutant emitting activities" associated with a drilling vessel in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's North Slope. CAA §504(e) is ambiguous as to whether "increment" requi...

The Third Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing the U.S. government's lawsuit against the current and former owners of a coal-fired power plant in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, for alleged CAA violations that took place 15-20 years earlier. The government alleged that the former owners ...

The Third Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt state law tort claims brought by private property owners against a source of pollution located within the state. The case arose after a group of 1,500 residents who live within one mile of a coal-fired power plant filed suit against the facility u...

The D.C. Circuit remanded EPA's "maximum achievable control technology" (MACT) standards for sewage sludge incinerators under CAA §129. The court upheld EPA's authority to regulate sewage sludge incinerators under §129, deferring to the Agency's interpretation of "solid waste incineration unit" as...

The Third Circuit, in a case involving a contaminated site in New Jersey, affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision finding the former owner of the site liable to the current owner under CERCLA but not RCRA. The lower court ruled that the current owner's claim for injunctive relie...

The D.C. Circuit denied petitions challenging EPA's revised NESHAPs for primary lead processing operations. Despite petitioners' argument to the contrary, EPA's use of the lead NAAQS as a benchmark in setting a NESHAP for lead compounds does not violate the CAA's prohibition on regulating elemental ...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision vacating the Nevada state engineer's approval of the state wildlife agency's application to transfer water rights from agricultural land in the Newlands Reclamation Project to the Carson Lake and Pasture, a wetlands-containing wildlife refuge, in ord...

A California court held that the California Department of Public Health must adopt a final primary drinking water standard for hexavalent chromium. The state legislature commanded the department to adopt a standard by January 1, 2004; the department is therefore in ongoing violation of its ministeri...

A California appellate court held that a newly enacted state law that prohibits counties from restricting or limiting the importation of solid waste into a privately owned facility in the county based on the waste's place of origin preempts a voter-approved 1984 initiative measure that severely rest...

The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of homeowners and the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in a CERCLA and RCRA case involving soil and groundwater contamination under a Las Vegas shopping center. The homeowners...