Ruling Rejecting CAFO Air Rules Avoids Novel Question Of Petitions' Impact

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected Iowa residents' lawsuit claiming EPA has a nondiscretionary Clean Air Act duty to issue concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) air rules, and avoids ruling on whether separate petitions for CAFO rulemaking pending at EPA should bolster such lawsuits. In a two-page judgment issued April 24, a three-judge panel of the court says that nothing in the air law compels EPA to issue CAFO emissions rules before it...