A district court held that EPA failed to set emissions standards for hazardous air pollutants under CAA §112(c)(6) in violation of prior court orders. In 2006 and 2011, the court ordered EPA to take action by a date certain to ensure its compliance with §112(c)(6), in a manner reviewable by the co...
The Ninth Circuit upheld EPA's approval of Nevada's SIP for regional haze. In the SIP, Nevada provided reasonable progress goals for attaining natural visibility conditions at the Jarbridge Wilderness Area in remote northeastern Nevada, the state’s only Class I federal area. The SIP further requir...
The D.C. Circuit upheld a $72 million judgment against an automobile manufacturer for violating a consent decree requiring certain model year 2005 engines to comply with EPA’s model-year 2006 nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions standard. In 1998, EPA alleged that several major engine manufacturers viol...
The Fifth Circuit held that notices of violations EPA sent to two power plant operators for alleged CAA violations were not "final agency action" and, hence, not subject to judicial review. In the notices, EPA claimed that the operators violated the Act's PSD provisions in connection with certain ph...
The D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review challenging EPA's decision to add property formerly owned by a manufacturing company to the NPL. The company argued that in listing the site, EPA failed to properly consider and analyze relevant data. But the company's objections were without merit. EPA ...
The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's gasification exclusion rule, which exempts from RCRA certain hazardous residuals left over from the petroleum refining process. Under the exclusion, oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials that are otherwise hazardous wastes under RCRA §3001 are exempted from RCRA r...
The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's comparable fuels exclusion, which exempts all fuels deemed comparable to non-hazardous waste-derived fossil fuels from the requirements set forth in RCRA §3004(q). Section 3004(q) directs EPA to establish standards applicable to all facilities that produce, burn for e...