Litigation - Climate Extra

Environmentalists Renew Push For EPA Record In New Chemicals Litigation

Environmentalists are renewing their push for a federal judge to resolve a dispute with EPA over the release of the administrative record in litigation challenging the agency’s opacity in TSCA new-chemicals reviews, saying EPA has produced no documents despite an August 2024 ruling that said the toxics law creates a public “right to know.” “EPA has not produced any records to the Plaintiffs,” since Judge Loren AliKhan’s August 2024 order and “there has been no change in the status of...

Court Allows Interior To Review Biden-Era Offshore Wind Project Approval

In another loss for the wind sector, a district court judge is granting the Trump administration’s request to remand the Biden-era approval of an offshore wind energy project, offering the Interior Department a path to undo other existing wind project approvals that are under litigation. The Trump administration argues that under its new interpretation of a portion of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), a Biden-era approval of SouthCoast Wind Energy’s Construction and Operations Plan (COP) might no longer...

D.C. Circuit Upholds Efficiency Rules For Gas Furnaces, Water Heaters

The D.C. Circuit is upholding several Biden-era rules that tighten efficiency standards for gas-fired home furnaces and commercial water heaters, rejecting long-pending claims from the natural gas sector that the standards violate key limits in the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). A split Nov. 4 decision from a three-judge panel in American Gas Association (AGA), et al. v. Department of Energy (DOE), et al . finds that DOE was justified in determining that an appliance’s use of “condensing” or...

Court Grants Industry Bid To Block CARB Enforcement Of Clean Truck Pact

A federal court is granting truck manufacturers’ request for a preliminary injunction on the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), agreeing with industry that CARB’s recent state court suit to enforce the deal marked a backdoor means of enforcing emissions rules despite Congress’ repeal of EPA’s preemption waivers. However, the court is rejecting the truck makers’ request for injunctions on several CARB regulations, as well as their First Amendment claim. CARB’s “filing of that lawsuit is...

Groups Oppose Court Ruling Against New York Climate Superfund Law

Environmental groups are backing New York’s calls for a federal court to deny the Trump administration’s push to quickly block the state’s climate “superfund” law that requires fossil fuel companies to pay the state damages in compensation for climate change-linked natural disasters. Trump officials “allege that the [New York law] intrudes into exclusively federal affairs, but their arguments rest on misguided assumptions and lack evidentiary support,” the groups say in an amicus brief in United States of America v....

Reprising Massachusetts, States May Face Standing Test In GHG Risk Suit

Upcoming litigation over EPA’s planned repeal of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding will test states’ standing to sue over climate measures, warns the head of an academic group working with states to promote strong environmental policies, potentially reprising arguments in the Supreme Court’s Massachusetts v. EPA case. In the 2007 decision in Massachusetts , which directed EPA to consider regulating GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act for the first time, the high court also concluded Massachusetts had standing...

Attorney Sees ‘Headwinds’ For State Climate Policies Amid Trump Assault

A lawyer who has represented low-emitting power generators says federal officials are creating new headwinds for state climate policies that did not exist during the first Trump administration, with Trump officials now striving to ensure that neither states nor the federal government can advance policies to limit greenhouse gases. “You might remember back in [the first Trump administration] it was, ‘We’re still in. The states are going to carry forward. We’re going to keep moving forward, regardless of what happens...

California Charges Truck Makers With Breaching Pact To Lower Emissions

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is suing four major truck manufacturers in state court for allegedly breaching their commitments to reduce emissions under the board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), even as the same truck makers are suing the board in federal court to overturn the CTP. “This action reflects CARB’s commitment to ensure that agreements with industry are not only meaningful, but that parties making agreements follow through and California gets the benefits of its bargain, which protects...

EV Group Objects To Pausing Suit Over Not Enforcing Fuel Economy Limits

The electric vehicle (EV) sector is opposing any move to pause its lawsuit over the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) decision to stop enforcing fuel economy standards while the agency revises them, citing immediate and ongoing harm to companies in the sector. The objection in an Oct, 27 filing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit comes amid a broader legal fight over NHTSA’s “interpretive” rule declaring that Biden officials erred in their treatment of EVs...

EPA, Truck Makers Ask Court To Deny CARB Bid To Dismiss Suit Over Rules

EPA and truck manufacturers are asking a federal court to deny the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) bid to dismiss portions of industry’s and EPA’s challenge to the board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) and several emission rules, arguing those measures pose ongoing injury to federal government sovereignty and businesses. “It is well settled that the United States’ sovereign interests are harmed when its laws are violated and when any state usurps the United States’ exclusive authority to regulate,” EPA...

ExxonMobil Suit Against California Climate Laws Targets CARB Protocols

ExxonMobil’s new First Amendment lawsuit challenging California’s laws requiring large companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related financial risks is targeting an existing state GHG reporting protocol, the required use of a specific reporting framework, and the state air board’s recently released reporting templates. ExxonMobil “has voiced disagreement with numerous aspects of the GHG Protocol. Starting in 2026, S.B. 253 will compel ExxonMobil to supplement its speech with information ExxonMobil believes will, at best, be unnecessary and counterproductive,”...

Former Officials Doubt EPA Can Preserve Preemption Without GHG Finding

Two former Biden administration officials are asserting that courts will not allow EPA to simultaneously argue it lacks a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gases, but that the Clean Air Act would still preempt both common law climate suits and state vehicle emissions programs. The critiques underscore a debate over whether EPA’s high-stakes push to undo its GHG endangerment finding and related vehicle GHG rules could open new paths to advancing climate nuisance claims and state vehicle emissions limits --...

CARB Rebuts Industry 9th Circuit Bid To Halt State’s GHG-Disclosure Laws

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is detailing why it believes the 9th Circuit should reject industry’s bid to quickly block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws, including claims related to the level of scrutiny courts should apply, the application of “commercial speech,” and a lack of harm to companies. In an Oct. 16 answering brief in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Lauren Sanchez, et al. , CARB elaborates on why the lower...

Iowa Counties Ask Justices To Uphold Local Laws Limiting CO2 Pipelines

Two Iowa counties are urging the Supreme Court to uphold their ordinances barring carbon dioxide pipelines within a certain distance of populated areas, teeing up a debate over the scope of federal preemption of safety standards for facilities needed for carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects. Experts are expecting a significant increase in CO2 pipelines to help facilitate CCS buildout, even while industry groups warn some Trump administration policies could slow that development . But the projects are facing opposition...

Industry attorney sees dim prospects for youth climate suits

Industry attorney Seth Jaffe says the recent dismissal of another youth-driven climate change case against the federal government only further dims the prospects for successful climate litigation, noting that plaintiffs are increasingly struggling to show their injuries are redressable in court. Jaffe in an Oct. 21 Foley Hoag blog post cites the Oct. 15 dismissal of Lighthiser v. Trump by Judge Dana Christensen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana, a case that challenges three of...

Environmentalists Notch Win, Detail Claims In Lawsuits Over LNG Terminals

Environmental groups are ramping up their legal campaign against major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, winning a court victory against Louisiana officials’ environmental review of one project while at the same time detailing arguments against federal officials’ approval of what would be the largest LNG export terminal in the country. In an Oct. 10 decision from a state court, the Sierra Club and other groups won a requirement for Louisiana officials to develop additional climate-related analysis for the proposed...

DOE ‘Roadmap’ Seeks To Boost Development Of Nuclear Fusion Technology

The Department of Energy (DOE) is releasing a new “roadmap” to advance nuclear fusion technology that has long been envisioned as a major zero-emissions power and industrial heat source, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright touting the nascent technology as the “real deal.” The Oct. 16 document aims to boost public infrastructure to support the fusion sector scaling up in the 2030s. It emphasizes public-private partnerships, noting that despite $9 billion in private investments to demonstrate “sustaining burning plasma on the...

Democratic States Challenge Solar Grants Repeal In Federal Claims Court

A group of Democratic-led states that received grants under EPA’s $7 billion Solar for All program is challenging the Trump administration’s termination of those grants in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, offering the first example of such a case after EPA has pushed to move a variety of grant-related cases to that court, where remedies are limited. Plaintiffs in numerous cases challenging EPA and other agency grant terminations filed complaints in district courts, but EPA has repeatedly asserted that...

Youth To Appeal Court Ruling Dismissing Challenge To Trump Energy EOs

A group of 22 young people say they will appeal a federal district court decision dismissing their challenge to President Trump’s energy-related executive orders (EOs) promoting fossil fuels and curbing renewable energy, arguing the judge expressed sympathy with their case and “invited” the 9th Circuit to allow it to proceed. The Oct. 15 dismissal in Lighthiser, et al. v. Donald J. Trump by Judge Dana Christensen of the U.S. District Court for the District of Montana follows a Sept...

Firms Aim To Continue Suits Against CARB Truck Fleet Rule, ZEV Mandate

Oil and trucking firms are informing a California superior court they will continue challenging the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) truck regulation and its mandate that manufacturers only sell zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) beginning in 2036, despite CARB’s recent move to scale back the measure. “CARB is not repealing the 2036 ZEV Sales Mandate, and in the proposed ACF amendments, CARB provides no rationale (or discussion whatsoever) for keeping the 2036 ZEV Sales Mandate in force; nor...

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