The Fourth Circuit denied motions to dismiss North Carolina's common-law nuisance action against the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) alleging that its coal plants emit various pollutants that travel through the atmosphere into the state, thereby adversely impacting human health and environmental qu...

The Tenth Circuit upheld the constitutionality of Colorado's Clean Indoor Air Act. The Act bans smoking in indoor areas, but it expressly exempts from this general prohibition "airport smoking concessions" such as airport restaurants and bars. A coalition of tavern and bar owners filed suit challeng...

The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction enjoining the California Air Resources Board from enforcing state regulations that limit emissions from the auxiliary diesel engines of ocean-going vessels within 24 miles of California's coast. Clean Air Act (CAA) §209(e)(2)(A) requires California to obta...

The D.C. Circuit denied a petition challenging a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order directing a pipeline operator that expanded its pipeline and added compressors to carry gas shipped by several new customers to allocate the added electricity costs only to the customers for whom the e...

The First Circuit denied Massachusetts' petition for review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) order denying its request to participate directly in a re-licensing proceeding of two nuclear energy plants as a "party" before the agency issues its renewal decision. Massachusetts argued that it mu...

The D.C. Circuit held that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, the National Historic Preservation Act, or residents' due process rights in its treatment of a hydroelectric project operator that violated its licen...

The Second Circuit remanded with directions to dismiss claims against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a former Agency administrator for misleading plaintiffs into believing that the air quality in lower Manhattan in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, was safe enough to permit th...

A district court issued a preliminary injunction limiting the amount of cattle grazing allowed on conservation reserve program (CRP) lands. In May, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) began a critical feed use haying and grazing program on CRP lands to deal with rising feed prices. But in so d...

A district court held that the applicable legal test for the "routine maintenance, repair, and replacement" exclusions found in the Clean Air Act (CAA) should be applied to activities that are considered "routine in the industry" rather than "routine at the unit." In a CAA enforcement action filed a...

The court holds that oil and gas lessees failed to state a claim under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act's (OCSLA's) citizen suit provision when they challenged the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) determination that transportation costs are not deductible under the royalty provisions o...