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 ...
Sinclair Wyoming Refining Co. v. EPA
The Tenth Circuit rejected EPA's decision to deny an oil company's request for an exemption from the blending requirement under the Renewable Fuel Standards Program of the CAA. In 2005, Congress amended the CAA to require refiners and importers to blend biofuels into gasoline to cut down on greenhou...
Mexichem Fluor, Inc. v. EPA
The D.C. Circuit held that EPA overstepped its authority under the CAA when it banned the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in products. In 2015, EPA issued a rule that restricted the manufacture of products containing HFCs. EPA based this decision on its authority to regulate "ozone depleting substa...