ELR Citation: ELR 20024
No(s). 07-1040 (D.C. Cir. Jan 22, 2008)

The D.C. Circuit denied an environmental group's petition challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) 2007 critical use exemption for methyl bromide, an ozone-depleting substance. The 2007 exemption applied a framework that EPA adopted in a 2004 rule—a rule that the group challenged previously and that the court affirmed. In the first case the group argued that the 2004 framework was invalid as adopted and applied to the 2005 critical use exemption for methyl bromide. In the instant action, the group challenges the 2004 framework—which EPA left unchanged—as applied to determine the 2007 exemption. Under principles of claim preclusion, the first case bars the group's new challenge.

[A related decision can be found at 36 ELR 20181.]