The Fifth Circuit granted EPA's request to transfer to the D.C. Circuit Texas' petition for review of the Agency's call for revisions to the state's SIP because its prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) provisions fail to control greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases have not always bee...
A district court held that the CAA preempts a city transit employee's negligence and strict liability claims against a company for injuries stemming from diesel exhaust fumes. The employees alleged that the design of the company's buses violated the emissions standards set out in the CAA and...
The Ninth Circuit granted citizen groups' petition for review of a final action by EPA approving in part and disapproving in part revisions to California's SIP for meeting CAA air quality standards for ozone. EPA's failure to order California to submit a revised attainment plan for the South...
The Third Circuit dismissed a petition for review of an EPA letter opining that facilities operated by a landfill and a neighboring energy company were under common control for purposes of air emissions permitting. The landfill owner challenged EPA's determination under CAA §307(b)(1), whic...
The Ninth Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt a California air pollution district rule requiring development sites to reduce the amount of pollutants they emit. CAA §209(e)(1) only preempts those standards or requirements relating to the control of emissions from "new" construction e...
The Fifth Circuit held that an energy company's current and ongoing construction of a coal-fired power plant, for which no maximum achievable control technology (MACT) determination has ever been made, violates CAA §112(g). In ordinary circumstances, there would be no question as to whether...
The D.C. Circuit denied medical waste trade associations' petition for review challenging EPA's performance standards for new and existing hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators (HMIWI). The associations argued that the data set EPA used to establish the standards was flawed. But EPA's ...
The Seventh Circuit denied environmental groups' petitions challenging EPA's approval of revisions to Wisconsin's new source review program. In 2002, EPA changed the rules that determine when polluters need permits in order to modify existing facilities—and, if they need permits, what restrictions...
The Ninth Circuit held that the CAA does not preempt a local air district's adoption and enforcement of rules regulating air emissions from diesel-powered engines. CAA §209(e) expressly prohibits states from setting "standards or other requirements relating to the control of emissions" from no...
The Tenth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's CAA citizen suit against a power company alleging that it was attempting to build a coal-fired power plant with an invalid PSD permit. The permit provided that if construction did not commence by May 29, 2005, or if construction...