Pennsylvania's highest court struck down Act 13, which pertains to oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale, as unconstitutional. The Act repealed Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act and replaced it with a codified statutory framework regulating oil and gas operations in the Commonwealth. Among ot...
The Alabama Supreme Court held that a property owner may go forward with its inverse condemnation claim against the director of the state transportation agency for allowing contaminated water to be pumped onto the owner's land. Although the agency is immune from suit, valid inverse condemnation acti...
A district court dismissed Native American and environmental groups' CAA citizen suit asking the court to order EPA to issue a final rule that establishes best available retrofit technology (BART) for the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon. ...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed Arizona's objection to a consent decree that established a timeline for EPA to approve a SIP, or promulgate a federal implementation plan (FIP), that would meet the requirements of the Regional Haze Rule. A lower court held that it lacked jurisdiction to hear the objection...
The D.C. Circuit vacated an EPA rule establishing nonconformance penalties (NCPs) for on-highway, heavy-duty diesel engines. NCPs are intended to protect "technological laggards" by allowing them to pay a penalty for engines temporarily unable to meet new or revised emission standards. EPA establish...
The D.C. Circuit remanded for reconsideration EPA's revisions to the secondary, welfare-based NAAQS for ozone, but denied petitions challenging revisions to the primary, health-based ozone NAAQS. Primary standards set limits to protect public health, including the health of "sensitive" populations s...
A New Jersey appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed a trial court decision dismissing without prejudice property owners' complaint alleging their property had been contaminated by chemicals discharged from a neighboring dry cleaning business. The New Jersey Environmental Rights Act all...
The Michigan Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, upheld the state environmental agency's decision to issue two permits authorizing modifications at a coal-fired power plant. The plant is located in a county that violates the NAAQS for particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). An env...
A California appellate court, in an unpublished opinion, dismissed residents' lawsuit challenging a city's decision not to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a proposed mixed-use commercial and residential project. The residents mai...