ELR Citation: 42 ELR 20123
No(s). 09-1038 (D.C. Cir. Jun 8, 2012)

The D.C. Circuit held unripe an oil and natural gas association's petition for review challenging a 2008 EPA regulation deregulating many hazardous secondary materials under RCRA. The association argued that EPA erred in not including in the deregulation a category of hazardous secondary material called spent refinery catalysts, which the association's members generate during the petroleum refining process. But EPA has since issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that, if made final, would significantly amend its 2008 rulemaking. As a result, the controversy is unripe and the court ordered the case held in abeyance, subject to regular reports on the status of the proposed rulemaking.