Sierra Club v. Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
The Tenth Circuit dismissed an environmental group's citizen suit against an Oklahoma power company for CAA violations at a power plant. The group claimed the company modified a coal-fired boiler without first obtaining an emission-regulating permit as required by the CAA. But because the group file...
United States ex rel. Mateski v. Raytheon Co.
The Ninth Circuit held that the public disclosure bar of the False Claims Act did not bar an individual's qui tam lawsuit against his employer under the Act. The employer, an engineering company, entered into a contract with NOAA to design and build a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS...
Shell Offshore Inc. v. Greenpeace, Inc.
The Ninth Circuit dismissed an environmental group's appeal of a preliminary injunction that barred it from interfering with oil exploration activities in the Chukchi Sea. The group challenged the injunction on several jurisdictional bases, as well as on the merits. But the injunction has expired an...
Ark Initiative v. Tidwell
The D.C. Circuit upheld the U.S. Forest Service's decision to exclude approximately 8,300 acres of federal land that fall within recreational ski boundaries from the Colorado roadless rule. The Service issued the rule in 2012, adopting state-specific standards for the designation and management of t...
Sierra Club de Puerto Rico v. Environmental Protection Agency
The D.C. Circuit dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit seeking to vacate an EPA rule that implements the CAA's new source review (NSR) permitting scheme in nonattainment areas. The groups filed suit after EPA issued an energy company a PSD permit to build a waste incinerator in Arecibo, Puerto Ric...