The Michigan Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, upheld the state environmental agency's decision to issue two permits authorizing modifications at a coal-fired power plant. The plant is located in a county that violates the NAAQS for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). An env...

A district court held that the owner of a vacant property is liable under CERCLA for the release of hazardous waste intentionally caused by trespassers. The owner, who left oil drums on the property, claimed she was entitled to the innocent landowner defense. But she failed to show by a preponderanc...

A district court dismissed, with leave to amend, a dry cleaning business owner's CERCLA claims against a water company for soil and groundwater contamination. The owner alleged that the water company's operation of a nearby well led to the release of perchloroethylene (PCE). But the complaint does n...

A district court held that the Virgin Islands may go forward with its suit to recover response costs it incurred responding to the release of hazardous substances at a former alumina facility. Under CERCLA, at least some costs must be incurred prior to the start of litigation in order for a plaintif...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed as moot truck engine manufacturers' lawsuit challenging four certificates of conformity EPA issued to another engine manufacturer pursuant to an interim final rule that allowed certificates to be issued to 2012 and 2013 model-year engines even if the engines fail to confor...

A district court denied industry groups' motion to intervene in a CAA citizen suit concerning EPA's alleged failure to review the ozone NAAQS in a timely manner. The underlying lawsuit concerns whether EPA has failed to perform a mandatory duty to review the ozone air quality standards, and whether ...

The Second Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision dismissing as time barred New York's CERCLA claims against several defendants for costs a town incurred investigating and addressing groundwater contamination stemming from the New Cassel Industrial Area. The lower court held that the st...

The Supreme Court of Kansas reversed and remanded the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's decision to issue a prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit to a power company to construct an 895-megawatt coal-fired power plant. An environmental group filed suit against the state age...

The Eighth Circuit vacated and remanded EPA's best available retrofit technology (BART) determination for a large power plant in North Dakota, but otherwise upheld EPA's partial disapproval of two SIPs submitted by North Dakota to meet the CAA's visibility requirements as well as the Agency's federa...

The Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court decision excluding the testimony of two expert witnesses in the government's case against a power company for making major modifications at three of its coal-fired power plants without obtaining a permit or installing modern pollution control devices. The ...