ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20023
No(s). 12-35323 et al (9th Cir. Feb 3, 2014)

The Ninth Circuit refused to rehear a case in which it previously ruled that environmental groups lacked standing to compel the Washington State Department of Ecology and other regional agencies to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the state's five oil refineries under the CAA. One of the judges had made a sua sponte call for a vote on rehearing the case en banc, but a majority of the nonrecused active judges of the court failed to vote in favor of rehearing this case en banc. A concurring judge wrote that the panel’s holding was compelled by Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 22 ELR 20913 (1992), which established stringent standing requirements for private litigants seeking to challenge the government’s regulation of third parties. And a dissenting judge wrote that the panel’s opinion was overbroad and used "unduly restrictive language" to foreclose citizen suits seeking to use the CAA to fight climate change.