Litigation

Latest news on lawsuits brought by environmentalists, industry and others challenging EPA rules on a broad range of issues, as well as breaking stories on state, federal and Supreme Court hearings and decisions.

Topic Subtitle
Latest news on lawsuits brought by environmentalists, industry and others challenging EPA rules on a broad range of issues, as well as breaking stories on state, federal and Supreme Court hearings and decisions.

Senate rejects Whitehouse bid to debate power plant CRA resolution

The Senate has rejected on procedural grounds a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R), ranking Democrat on the environment committee, that would have rescinded EPA’s rule increase Indiana’s power plant emissions limits, the first of several such resolutions offered by Whitehouse. Senators Sept. 16 voted 51-47 rejecting a motion to proceed to a vote on the resolution, S.J. 60. The measure would have disapproved a relatively obscure EPA rule approving an increase in Indiana’s interstate ozone...

Facing Suit, EPA Plans To Scrap Compliance Delay For Coke Ovens Rule

EPA says it will withdraw its two-year compliance extension for coke oven air toxics limits, arguing the delay is unnecessary as it reconsiders the Biden-era limits, sidestepping broader legal arguments about “good cause” for the delay and contradicting industry’s claims that it faces “peril” absent the extension. In a Sept. 18 filing in GASP, et al. v. EPA , a case brought by environmental groups against the interim final rule (IFR) that established the delay, EPA says it does not...

EJ groups appeal ruling allowing EPA to cancel grants

Environmental justice (EJ) groups are appealing a federal district court’s ruling allowing EPA to cancel $2.5 billion in grants and are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring EPA to preserve the funding rather than return it to the Treasury. The Sept. 16 filing in Appalachian Voices, et al. v. EPA says plaintiffs will ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reverse an Aug. 29 decision by the lower...

USW Says EPA’s Asbestos Rule Reversal Rationale Makes Its Legal Case

The United Steel Workers (USW) is urging the 5th Circuit to review the Trump EPA’s rationale for its July reversal on rewriting the Biden-era rule phasing out six uses of chrysotile asbestos, arguing the statement is a “clear concession” to USW’s argument that the 2024 rule violates TSCA because it does not adequately or equally protect all workers. “[S]ince it filed its brief, EPA has publicly stated -- in agreement with USW’s arguments -- ‘that the Biden Administration’s risk management...

CARB Urges Court To Reject Industry, DOJ Bid To Block Truck Deal, Rules

California Air Resources Board (CARB) attorneys are detailing arguments for why a federal district court should deny truck manufacturers’ and EPA’s bid to block the board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP) and several emission regulations, including that the plaintiffs are not being injured and the rules do not violate federal law. In a Sept. 16 brief , CARB -- which is being represented by Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) -- argues the manufacturers and Department of Justice (DOJ) have put...

Industry Rebuts California Bid To Dismiss Or Transfer Truck-Deal Lawsuit

A free-market business group is rebutting California’s bid to dismiss or transfer the group’s lawsuit in Illinois federal district court challenging the state air board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), arguing the board’s executive officer has had many connections with Illinois parties to justify keeping the challenge in that state. The arguments are included in a Sept. 11 brief in American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce (AmFree) v. Steven S. Cliff in the U.S. District Court for the Northern...

In Surprise, EPA Decides To Retain Landmark Biden-Era CERCLA PFAS Rule

In a surprise move, EPA has told a federal appellate court it is planning to retain the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, clearing the way for the agency to defend the measure in a pending industry suit despite recent reports that one top EPA official advocated for the agency to oppose the rule. “EPA has reviewed the underlying rule and has decided to keep the Rule in place,” the agency says in...

Motion

Declaration


House GOP Targets EPA Criminal Enforcement Amid Continuing Indictments

As the Trump administration scales back civil environmental enforcement, House Republicans are suggesting that EPA and the Justice Department (DOJ) should halt existing criminal prosecutions and possibly revisit past settlements in cases against small businesses, particularly producers of devices that disable mandatory vehicle emissions controls. During a Sept. 16 hearing before the House Oversight Committee’s federal law enforcement subcommittee, GOP lawmakers lambasted the Biden EPA for their criminal prosecutions of small defeat device producers, saying criminal enforcement should be limited...

Utah Group, Harley Dealers Reach Landmark Clean Air Act Settlement

Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment (UPHE) and four local Harley-Davidson dealerships have reached what may be the first proposed Clean Air Act citizen suit settlement, following the group’s successful enforcement action several years ago against the “Diesel Brothers,” hosts of a popular TV show, and their parts distributor, TAP Worldwide. The Sept. 10 proposed consent decree in UPHE v. Harley-Davidson of Salt Lake City, LLC, et al. , in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, resolves...

HFC Manufacturer Asks Full D.C. Circuit To Reconsider Nondelegation Claim

A hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) manufacturer is asking the full D.C. Circuit to rehear its claim that Congress illegally delegated legislative authority to EPA in the 2020 HFC control law, detailing what it sees as faults of a unanimous panel decision that found no constitutional violations in the law’s HFC phasedown program. RMS of Georgia, also known as Choice Refrigerants, writes in a Sept. 15 petition that the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act “instructs an agency to dictate who may continue...

Environmentalists Threaten New CWA Plastic Suit After Pennsylvania Deal

Environmentalists are threatening to sue two companies over discharges of large amounts of plastic pellets in South Carolina under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), just days after other groups finalized a precedent-setting CWA settlement against a company over plastic discharges into a Pennsylvania river. In a Sept. 10 notice of intent to sue , the group Congaree Riverkeeper warned Alpek Polyester USA and Eastman Chemical Company, who jointly operate a plastic plant near...

Environmentalists Sue Over EPA’s Withdrawal Of Slaughterhouse ELG Plan

A coalition of 10 environmental groups is suing EPA over its withdrawal of a Biden-era proposal establishing tough effluent limits to curb nutrient and other releases from meat and poultry product (MPP) facilities, flagging concerns that the Trump administration’s withdrawal violates the Clean Water Act’s (CWA) requirements. The groups filed a Sept. 15 petition for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in the suit Cape Fear River Watch, et al., v. EPA , challenging the...

Judge Denies Industry Bid To Block California GHG Laws During Appeal

A federal judge is denying industry groups’ request to block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal the judge’s earlier rejection of their request for a preliminary injunction, and is also staying the First Amendment case until the appellate court issues a decision. In a Sept. 11 order in Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, et al. v. Liane M. Randolph, et al. , Judge Otis Wright, II of the U.S. District Court for the...

Defendant Pushes Constitutional Challenge To CWA Citizen Suit Provisions

A defendant in a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit case is urging a federal district court in Pennsylvania to dismiss the suit that alleges violations of the contracting company’s pollutant discharge permit, arguing in part that the law’s citizen suit provisions are an unconstitutional delegation of executive power to private citizens. W.G. Tomko Inc., the defendant in the case, filed an Aug. 26 brief in support of its motion to dismiss Center for Coalfield Justice (CCJ) v. W.G. Tomko...

Brief In Support Of Motion To Dismiss

CCJ’s Aug. 11 Complaint


DOJ Urges Justices To Block Climate Suits, Citing Constitution, Air Law

The Trump administration is urging the Supreme Court in a new filing to block state and local governments’ suits against the oil industry over climate damages, reiterating arguments that such suits are barred by the Constitution and EPA’s regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act. The Constitution limits states’ sovereign authority to their respective borders, the Justice Department (DOJ) writes in a Sept. 11 amicus brief in Suncor Energy, et al. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County, et al...

Utilities Say Biden-Era LCRI Is Infeasible, Exceeds Authority Under Loper

Water utilities are urging a federal appeals court to overturn EPA’s rule requiring near-total replacement of lead service lines (LSLs) by 2037, arguing that the rule’s timelines are costly and infeasible and that its mandates to replace LSLs on private property exceed EPA’s statutory authority. The American Water Works Association (AWWA), which represents thousands of water utilities, filed its Sept. 12 brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the rule, weeks after...

Environmentalists Target Steel Plant Permits Amid Wider Fight With EPA

Three environmental groups are threatening to sue EPA over its failure to respond to their petitions calling for the agency to object to the air permits of two major steelmaking plants in Indiana, litigation that would open a new front against the facilities amid an ongoing fight over EPA’s delay of tougher Biden-era rules for the sector. In a notice of intent to sue (NOI) letter sent to EPA Sept. 3, a coalition of groups -- Environmental Law and Policy...

Former Officials Warn Trump Is Gutting Environmental Enforcement Capacity

Two former top environmental enforcement officials -- one from EPA, one from the Justice Department (DOJ) -- are warning that the Trump administration has gutted the federal government’s capacity to prosecute environmental violations, resulting in a historic enforcement slowdown that is significantly threatening public health and the environment. In addition to regulatory rollbacks, enforcement policy changes and support for the fossil fuel industry, staff losses that have hollowed out enforcement divisions will damage environmental protection for decades, David Uhlmann, who...

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