Sierra Club v. EPA
The D.C. Circuit held that EPA did not violate the CAA by modifying, without notice and comment, its prior understandings of how to measure a proposed transportation project’s impact on ambient levels of particulate matter. In 2006, EPA revised “hot spot" regulations for fine particulate matter....
Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA
A district court ordered EPA to issue infrastructure requirements for the 2012 fine particulate matter NAAQS for five states within 90 days. In 2015, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island missed their deadlines to present compliance plans for the 2012 fine p...
Natl. Parks Conserv. Assn. v. EPA
A district court denied EPA's request to amend a 2012 consent decree obligating the Agency to approve state regional haze plans. In 2011, environmental groups sued the Agency to compel it to take action on nine states' regional haze plans. Under a consent decree, EPA was given until September 9, 201...
Sierra Club v. North Dakota
The Ninth Circuit upheld a 2014 EPA settlement that required the Agency to set a phased schedule for it to issue air quality designations as required by a 2010 sulfur dioxide NAAQS. In 2013, when EPA missed the statutory deadline to issue its designations under the CAA, environmental groups sued to ...
Sierra Club v. U.S. Department of Energy
The D.C. Circuit denied a environmental group's petition to review a FERC decision allowing the transport of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Freeport Terminal in Texas. In 2011, an energy company requested permission for daily exports of LNG out of Freeport. FERC granted the application, findin...
Montana Environmental Information Center v. U.S. Office of Surface Mining
A district court halted the expansion of a Montana coal mine approved by the Surface Mining Enforcement Office for violations of NEPA. In 2008, a coal company requested approval of a mine expansion in the Bull Mountains to extract coal owned by the federal government. In 2011, BLM prepared an EA to ...