Murray Energy Corp. v. McCarthy
A district court held that coal companies have standing in their CAA lawsuit against EPA for failing to evaluate the potential for job losses stemming from the Agency's CAA regulation and enforcement efforts. The coal companies alleged that EPA's actions have had a coercive effect on the power gener...
St. Marys Cement Inc. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Sixth Circuit denied a cement company's petition to vacate an EPA rule requiring it to add more stringent air pollution controls at one of its portland-cement plants. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment had previously deemed the plant's pollution controls sufficient and ...
Big Thorne Project
A district court upheld the U.S. Forest Service's approval of the Big Thorne Project in the Tongass National Forest, thereby allowing the logging of approximately 6,186 acres of old growth forest and construction of 46.1 miles of new Forest Service roads to begin on April 1, 2015. Environmental grou...
Save the Scenic Santa Ritas v. Darwin
An Arizona court overturned the state's issuance of an air permit for a proposed open-pit copper mine. An environmental group argued that the state's approval of the permit was arbitrary and capricious because the mine has the potential to violate NAAQS. They also claimed that the mine's modeling re...
Natural Resources Defense Council v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
The Ninth Circuit denied an environmental group's petition challenging EPA's approval of a revision to California's SIP. The revision provided alternative "not less stringent" controls to what is required in CAA §185's antibacksliding measures, which require that major stationary sources of polluti...