The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling upholding the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality's issuance of an air quality permit to construct a refinery. A conservation group argued the Department's omission of an enforceable permit limit for hazardous air pollutants (...
A district court denied a motion to preliminarily enjoin the Forest Service from constructing a recreation trail across private property located in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The property owners argued that construction of the trail required activities directly adjacent to designated cri...
A district court dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction a suit concerning EPA's CAA obligations to regulate pollution from coke ovens. Environmental groups argued the CAA required EPA to perform a risk assessment every time it revised its technology-based standards for a hazardous polluti...
The Tenth Circuit held that EPA erred in denying an environmental group's petition to review the renewal of a state-issued Title V operating permit for a coal-fired power plant in Utah. The group's petition argued that EPA should object to the renewal because it failed to "assure compliance" with al...
A district court vacated DOI's decision to enter into a land exchange agreement to facilitate construction of a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Environmental groups argued that the agreement, which DOI acknowledged represented a change in the agency's policy, failed to provi...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court's dismissal of a suit challenging an automobile company's use of diesel-cheat devices to evade compliance with federally mandated emission standards. Two counties argued the company's installation of and modification to the dev...
The Fifth Circuit upheld EPA's decision to reject a challenge to a CAA Title V permit it issued for expansion of a plant in Baytown, Texas. Environmental groups requested that EPA reject the permit on the grounds that the underlying Title I preconstruction permit allowing the expansion was invalid. ...