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.

Judge Denies DTE Bid To Appeal Subsidiary’s NSR Liability On Eve Of Trial

A federal judge is denying Michigan utility DTE’s request to certify interlocutory appeal to the 6th Circuit and delay the start of a Sept. 15 bench trial to determine whether it is liable for violating Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) rules when its subsidiary EES Coke modified its plant in 2014 in violation of the program’s rules. In a Sept. 11 order in United States v. EES Coke Battery, LLC, et al. , Judge Gershwin Drain of the...

Biogas Sector, Refiners Sue Over EPA’s 2024 Partial Cellulosic RFS Waiver

Producers of renewable natural gas (RNG) from landfills and animal feeding operations, along with oil refiners, are suing EPA over its partial waiver of 2024 requirements for “cellulosic” biofuel under the renewable fuel standard (RFS), with gas producers likely to argue the cut was unlawful, while refiners argue it was insufficient. The Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas Sept. 4 filed its suit against EPA’s July 7 rule, which reduced the cellulosic biofuel blending requirement for 2024. The coalition filed its...

Trump EPA Asks D.C. Circuit To Vacate Four PFAS Drinking Water Limits

The Trump EPA is urging the D.C. Circuit to vacate four of six Biden-era drinking water standards for PFAS, arguing the agency did not follow mandatory procedural requirements when it promulgated them, in an effort to quickly resolve legal questions over whether officials can follow through on their plan to withdraw the landmark limits. The Biden “EPA initially attempted to defend the Rule against forceful legal challenges raised in these petitions for review,” the Trump EPA says in a Sept...

Motion For Partial Vacatur

Court Order


Ruling Could Enable EPA To Retain ‘Defenses’ In Multiple Air Toxics Rules

The recent D.C. Circuit ruling upholding “affirmative defenses” for plant malfunctions from civil liability in Clean Air Act (CAA) Title V permits may enable the agency to reverse or modify its practice of removing such measures from multiple air toxics regulations, sources say. In its Sept. 5 ruling in SSM Litigation Group v. EPA, et al. , a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a Biden-era rule that required the removal...

Industry Seeks Rehearing In Monitoring Suit, Citing No Impending Harm

Industry defendants and business groups are urging the full 4th Circuit to reconsider a landmark panel holding that plaintiffs in a class action suit seeking medical monitoring for ethylene oxide (EtO) exposures satisfied Article III injury and standing when citing past exposures, arguing that plaintiffs must instead show a “particularized injury.” In a Sept. 2 petition for rehearing en banc in Lee Ann Sommerville v. Union Carbide Corp.; Covestro LLC , the defendants urged the U.S. Court of Appeals...

Split Over SDWA PFAS Case, EPA, Parties Again Ask Court For More Time

The Trump EPA and other parties are split over how to proceed in litigation over the Biden-era PFAS drinking water limits and are again asking the D.C. Circuit for more time, until Sept. 12, to confer on a joint proposal for a briefing schedule to continue litigation. “The parties are conferring in good faith on a briefing schedule, but have not yet reached consensus,” the parties said in an unopposed joint motion to govern filed late Sept. 10. “To afford...

Judge Allows Suit Against ExxonMobil Over Plastics Recycling To Advance

A federal judge is allowing environmentalists to continue pursuing their public nuisance claim alleging ExxonMobil engaged in “deceptive public messaging” to promote recycling as a solution to plastic waste concerns, while dismissing their claim that the company violated California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL). The Sept. 5 order by Richard Seeborg, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, rejects ExxonMobil’s earlier motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit, Sierra Club, et al. v. ExxonMobil Corp....

Judge Allows Reorganization, RIF Suit To Continue Amid Discovery Battle

A federal district court judge is allowing Trump administration critics to continue their lawsuit challenging restructuring and mass firings at EPA and other agencies, rejecting administration arguments that a July Supreme Court order greenlighting the overhauls means the lawsuit should be dismissed. In a vindication for union, nonprofit and local government plaintiffs, Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Sept. 9 to broadly reject the Justice Department’s (DOJ’s) motion to dismiss the...

California Opposes Effort To ‘Short-Circuit’ Suit Over Auto Waiver Repeals

California and allied states are urging the 9th Circuit to continue pausing litigation challenging Biden EPA federal preemption waivers for two of California’s vehicle emissions programs, opposing an industry and EPA bid to dismiss the cases in a way that could also truncate the states’ district court litigation challenging Congress’s repeal of those waivers. “The Court should not countenance this attempt to . . . short-circuit separate litigation that raises novel and complex constitutional claims against unprecedented actions by the...

Environmentalists Warn Slaughterhouse ELG Withdrawal May Be Unlawful

Environmentalists are raising significant legal concerns over EPA’s withdrawal of a proposed Biden-era rule establishing tough effluent limits to curb nutrient and other releases from meat and poultry product (MPP) facilities, signaling they will almost certainly sue over the action. EPA formally withdrew the Biden administration’s proposed Clean Water Act (CWA) effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for slaughterhouse and rendering facilities in a Sept. 3 Federal Register notice, saying it decided not to finalize the standards “based on exercise of...

Citing EPA, DOJ Seeks To Delay AFFF MDL Scrutiny Of CERCLA Claims

The Justice Department (DOJ) is asking the court overseeing multi-district litigation (MDL) on PFAS contamination from firefighting foam to stay or deny consideration of a variety of Superfund cost claims, pointing in part to uncertainty over EPA’s active review of the Biden-era rule designating two PFAS as hazardous substances. In a Sept. 8 motion , DOJ asks the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina to hold in abeyance Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) sections...

Environmentalists’ Suit Tests EPA’s New Haze Policy Easing State Approvals

Environmental groups are suing over the Trump EPA’s new national policy that allows the agency to more easily approve states’ plans for curbing regional haze, targeting the agency’s approval of West Virginia’s plan that relies on a non-statutory metric in a way that environmentalists claim unlawfully overrides Clean Air Act requirements. National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice in their Sept. 4 suit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit challenge the agency’s July 7...

Court stays EPA rule downgrading Wisconsin’s ozone status

A federal appeals court has granted Wisconsin’s motion to stay a Biden-era EPA rule that downgraded the ozone “nonattainment” status of three areas of the state from “moderate” to “serious,” indicating a good chance of success on the merits of the case and adding to similar stays imposed over the reclassification of areas in other states. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit in a Sept. 5 order without explanation stayed EPA’s Dec. 17 final rule finding that...

DOE Dissolves Climate Skeptic Group, Spurring Doubts Over Report’s Fate

The Energy Department’s (DOE) decision to dissolve a working group that developed its controversial report questioning mainstream climate science is raising questions about the report’s fate, and its role in supporting EPA’s planned repeal of its greenhouse gas endangerment finding, amid heavy criticism from the scientific community. Even so, the report’s authors and administration officials are pledging to respond to such critiques, while arguing that environmentalists erred in advancing a lawsuit alleging procedural flaws with the working group. According to...

Industry Seeks To Block California GHG-Disclosure Laws During Appeal

Industry groups say a federal district court should block implementation of California’s corporate climate-disclosure laws while they appeal the court’s earlier decision rejecting their request for a preliminary injunction, renewing their argument that implementation will violate their First Amendment rights. “The state’s opposition is based on a false premise: that this motion is a second bite at the preliminary-injunction apple. It is not,” says a Sept. 2 reply brief by the groups in support of their motion for an injunction...

Reversing Lower Court, 9th Circuit Revives Washington Tribes’ NRD Suit

The 9th Circuit is restoring a Washington tribe’s previously dismissed Superfund natural resource damages (NRD) suit against Canadian mining company Teck Cominco Metals, agreeing with the tribe that while such claims are only available to address injury to natural resources, those can apply to cases where lost uses have a cultural dimension. Judge Ronald Gould of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit issued a Sept. 3 opinion in an interlocutory appeal in the suit Confederated Tribes of...

Capito Renews Support For PFAS Policies As EPA Weighs CERCLA Rule

Senate environment committee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) is expressing support for PFAS policies that do not impose burdens on taxpayers or essential service providers, echoing her push to shield passive receivers from Superfund liability for PFAS contamination and signaling she may be reticent to back any EPA bid to drop support for the Biden-era Superfund rule. “Senator Capito has long prioritized tackling PFAS contamination through regulations that accurately account for challenges in rural and underserved areas,” said a spokesperson...

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