The Eighth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision dismissing a steel company's CAA citizen lawsuit seeking injunctive relief to stop a competitor from constructing or continuing to construct a steel mill. Arkansas's environmental agency already issued the competitor a preconstruction PSD permit. Ne...
The Sixth Circuit upheld a lower court decision sentencing an individual to 60 months in prison and ordered the individual and his co-defendants, jointly and severally, to pay $10,388,576.71 in restitution to EPA for asbestos NESHAPS violations. The individual and co-defendants formed a salvage comp...
The Fifth Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision that imposed no penalties against an oil company for alleged CAA permit violations at its industrial complex in Baytown, Texas. An environmental group filed a CAA citizen suit against the company, alleging violations that occurred thousan...
The Ninth Circuit held that BLM’s approval of a wind-energy development project in southeastern Oregon failed to adequately address impacts to the greater sage grouse in violation of NEPA. The challenged project entails the construction of wind turbines and a right-of-way across a sagebrush landsc...
A district court vacated two FWS depredation orders reauthorizing the killing of double-crested cormorants in certain states. The court previously held that FWS violated NEPA when it reissued the orders. At issue here was the remedy. FWS argued that remand without vacatur was appropriate, whereas pl...
A district court, in a 149-page opinion, held that the government violated the ESA and NEPA when it approved its 2014 biological opinion (BiOp) for the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) and its impact on salmon and steelhead. The FCRPS consists of hydroelectric dams, powerhouses, and assoc...
The D.C. Circuit, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed a petition challenging an EPA computer model that states must use to estimate motor vehicle emissions when developing their strategies to comply with the CAA. Kansas and Nebraska, as well as two nonprofit organizations, alleged that the model is...
The Fifth Circuit upheld an individual's sentence and conviction for wire fraud, money laundering, and CAA violations for selling false renewable fuel credits. The individual represented to EPA and to fuel companies seeking to purchase renewable fuel credits that he manufactured renewable fuels when...