The Eighth Circuit affirmed, 2-1, a ruling in favor of a mining company in a challenge to the company's failure to obtain a CAA construction permit for a mine in rural North Dakota. The owners of an adjacent ranch argued that the company failed to obtain the proper permit under the CAA and failed to...

The Fourth Circuit granted for a second time an oil refinery's petition to review EPA's decision denying the refinery an exemption from biofuel requirements under the Agency's renewable fuel standard program, and vacated the Agency's decision. The refinery argued that EPA arbitrarily relied on DOE's...

The First Circuit amended a previous ruling vacating an air permit issued by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) for a proposed natural gas compressor station that is part of a pipeline connecting the northeastern United States and Canada. The court had found that MDEP fa...

The Third Circuit granted a petition to review EPA's approval of Pennsylvania's proposed NAAQS for ozone. An environmental group argued the standards wrongly claimed to reduce pollution output at the state's most advanced coal-burning power plants while "simply rubberstamping an average of current p...

The D.C. Circuit denied in part and dismissed in part a petition to review EPA's guidance concerning the process of certifying cellulosic biofuel. A biofuel company argued the guidance was a legislative rule that was invalidly promulgated without notice and comment, conflicted with the regulation it...

A district court granted states' motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit concerning EPA's duty to limit air pollution drifting from upwind states into northeastern states. Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York argued that EPA failed to fulfill a nondiscretionary duty under ...

The Fifth Circuit vacated and remanded a lower court decision that imposed penalties against an oil company for alleged CAA permit violations at its industrial complex in Baytown, Texas. Environmental groups filed a CAA citizen suit against the company, alleging violations that occurred thousands of...

The D.C. Circuit vacated EPA's denial of New York's petition concerning cross-border pollution from nine upwind states. The state had asked EPA to find that power-generating and other facilities in the nine states were violating the CAA's "good neighbor" provision by producing emissions that contrib...

The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions to review EPA's attainment designations for its 2015 ozone NAAQS. Environmental groups, municipal governments, and the state of Illinois argued that the Agency failed to follow its own scientific and technical record when it decided that ...

The North Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling upholding the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality's issuance of an air quality permit to construct a refinery. A conservation group argued the Department's omission of an enforceable permit limit for hazardous air pollutants (...