The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA’s decision denying environmental groups’ request to add coal mines to the regulated list of stationary source categories under the CAA. In denying the groups’ petition for rulemaking, EPA made it clear that the denial was not a determination as to whether coal ...
The D.C. Circuit denied industry groups' petition for review challenging EPA's 2013 primary NAAQS for fine particulate matter. In the final rule, EPA lowered the level of the particulate matter NAAQS from 15.0 μg/m3 to 12.0 μg/m3, a level slightly lower than the lowest concentrations reported as c...
The Second Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing a developer's CERCLA indemnity claim for remediation costs it incurred as the owner of a building contaminated by toxic dust from the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The developer filed suit against the owners and less...
The Federal Circuit held that the U.S. government must reimburse four oil companies for CERCLA costs they incurred cleaning up contamination stemming from the production of high-octane aviation gas (avgas) during World War II. The oil companies entered into contracts with the government that promise...
The Seventh Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a CERCLA citizen suit challenging remediation work at three landfills in Indiana. The remediation work was divided into three stages. The lower court held that it lacked jurisdiction over the citizens' claims challenging the second and t...
The D.C. Circuit upheld EPA's renewable fuels standard (RFS) for 2013. Because EPA reduced the cellulosic ethanol blending requirement for 2013 but not the total renewable fuel volume, petroleum refiners filed suit arguing the rule should be vacated. The court disagreed. The CAA provides that if EPA...
A California appellate court upheld the issuance of a county permit for a landfill expansion project in the Suisun Marsh, part of the San Francisco Bay tidal estuary. Environmental groups claimed that the permit approvals violate the Sonoma County Local Protection Plan and, specifically, a county or...
A district court rejected a proposed consent decree that would have required EPA to review and, where necessary, revise by December 19, 2014, certain regulations concerning coal ash under RCRA. The court determined that the proposed consent decree was fair, adequate, reasonable, appropriate, and gen...
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded a lower court decision vacating EPA's transport rule, also known as the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which sets sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions limits for 28 upwind states based on those states' contributions to downwind states' air qualit...