The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA guidance document addressing obligations of regions still in nonattainment of the 1997 one-hour ozone NAAQS. The guidance binds EPA regional directors and thus qualifies as final agency action. As such, it amounts to a legislative rule issued in violation of the ...
The Ninth Circuit upheld the dismissal of an environmental group's CAA claim challenging an air quality district's method for offsetting emissions increases in its new source review permit program. The district's regulation, contained in the state's EPA-approved SIP, requires that most increase...
A district court held that EPA need not issue endangerment findings under the CAA for marine vessels and nonroad vehicles and engines, but it denied the Agency's motion to dismiss environmental groups' request for an endangerment finding with respect to aircraft engines. EPA argued that the CAA prov...
The Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision rejecting landowners' claims that the United States had taken their property without just compensation by erecting a log boom that prevented them from using a slough next to their property. The government placed the log boom in the slough to ...
A district court denied environmental groups' petition for review challenging BLM's and the U.S. Forest Service's approval of several oil and gas lease sales in the San Juan Basin of northern New Mexico. The groups, who were concerned that the leases would contribute to ozone emissions, impact publi...
A district court held that the Secretary of the Interior violated FLPMA and the APA when he withdrew a record of decision (ROD) adopting six revised resource management plans, collectively known as the Western Oregon Plan Revisions, for 2.5 million acres of BLM lands in western Oregon. The S...
The Ninth Circuit upheld EPA's determination that a California SIP that imposes limits on motor vehicle emissions for years 2009 and 2012 are adequate for purposes of the state's transportation plans and projects. Although EPA’s overall approval process of the SIP is still underway, th...
The Ninth Circuit upheld, on statutory and constitutional grounds, California's vessel fuel rules as they apply to vessels located more than three miles off the California coast. The rules, which seek to reduce air pollutants affecting the state of California, require ocean-going vessels to ...
A district court dismissed claims that an energy company is responsible for PSD violations at five coal-fired power plants it owns in Illinois. The court previously granted the company's motion to dismiss in 2010, but the United States, Illinois, and several citizen groups filed an amended c...