A district court remanded to state court a Louisiana parish's lawsuit against 19 oil and gas companies for alleged environmental damages stemming from the companies' exploration, production, and transportation activities. The parish claims these operations were conducted in violation of the State an...
A California appellate court held that the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) failed to adequately consider greenhouse gas emissions impacts in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) during its preparation of its 2050 regional transportation plan. A lower court ruled...
The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing an environmental group's citizen suit requesting EPA to issue more stringent regulations for ozone pollution under the PSD program. The group alleged that the EPA Administrator has a nondiscretionary duty to issue revised ozone regulations u...
A New Jersey appellate court held that the state environmental agency exceeded its authority when it seized control of a privately owned landfill under an emergency order intended to abate an alleged imminent threat to the environment arising from continued emissions of hydrogen sulfide. The order e...
A Washington State appellate court held that a county ordinance banning the land application of the most common class of biosolids is unconstitutional. The state' s biosolids program was created in 1992 to facilitate and encourage recycling, rather than disposal, of sewage waste, and the state's env...
A California appellate court held that San Diego County's adoption of a climate action plan violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, the county issued a program environmental impact report (PEIR) and adopted a number o...
The Ninth Circuit held that DOT did not violate the CAA or NEPA in its approval of a planned expressway connecting the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. In the course of the project’s approval process, DOT conducted an air quality conformity determination under the CAA, which involv...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed automobile industry groups' petition challenging an EPA rule intended to mitigate the misfueling of vehicles and engines with gasoline containing greater than 10% ethanol (E10). Among other measures, the rule prohibits the use of E10 gasoline in certain vehicles, engines, ...
The Tenth Circuit denied petitions for review challenging EPA's approval of a regional cap-and-trade program regulating sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions to address regional haze over the Colorado Plateau, a Class I area. Under the CAA's regional haze rule for Class I areas, states have the option of u...
The Eleventh Circuit dismissed military families' claims against the government under the Federal Tort Claims Act for various health problems due to their alleged exposure to toxic substances in the drinking water while living at a military base in North Carolina. The North Carolina statute of repos...