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.

D.C. Circuit allows environmentalists to intervene in LCRI suit

The D.C. Circuit has approved three environmental groups’ motion to intervene in water utilities’ lawsuit against the Biden-era Lead and Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI), a move that will allow the groups to provide a more full-throated defense of the measure shortly after the Trump EPA said it would defend the rule. In an Aug 20 order , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allowed Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Newburgh Clean Water Project and Sierra...

New Jersey’s PFAS Settlements May Offer ‘Roadmap’ For Other States

New Jersey’s multi-billion dollar proposed settlements with various chemical manufacturers over PFAS contamination are likely to serve as a “roadmap” for dozens of other states pursing natural resource damages (NRD) and drinking water cleanup claims due to PFAS contamination, legal experts say, though some are more cautious. “This landmark settlement sets a powerful precedent for environmental protection efforts nationwide,” says William Jackson, an attorney with Kelley Drye, who served as co-counsel along with two other law firms to New Jersey’s...

Environmentalists Fight EPA’s State-By-State Bid To Adopt New Haze Policy

Environmentalists claim EPA’s approvals of state plans to reduce regional haze unlawfully alter national policy established by current rules, and that such approvals relying on new agency policy have “nationwide scope or effect” under recent Supreme Court precedent, directing litigation over the approvals to the District of Columbia Circuit. In Aug. 18 comments on EPA’s proposed approval of Indiana’s state implementation plan (SIP) for regional haze, seven groups including National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Sierra Club and others say that...

California Seeks Dismissal Of Challenge To Truck Deal In Illinois Court

The California attorney general is seeking to dismiss a business group’s lawsuit against the state air board’s executive officer in an Illinois federal court seeking to invalidate the board’s 2023 Clean Truck Partnership (CTP), or to have the case transferred to a court in California where a similar suit is being pursued by individual truck manufacturers. In the Aug. 14 motion , California argues that because plaintiff American Free Enterprise Chamber of Commerce’s (AmFree) preemption challenge “does not arise from...

Reversing Precedent, Court Rejects Internet Law Defense For Defeat Devices

In a reversal of precedent, a federal appeals court has ruled that a manufacturer of devices used to deactivate vehicle emissions controls required by the Clean Air Act (CAA) is not entitled to immunity under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which shields Internet content providers from liability for third-party content. In an Aug. 20 ruling in United States v. EZ Lynk, et al. , the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit reversed a lower court’s...

EPA Draws Suit Over Failure To Promulgate Final Florida Water Criteria

Environmentalists are suing EPA over its failure to finalize revised water quality criteria for protecting human health in Florida, charging that Administrator Lee Zeldin faces a nondiscretionary duty to issue such criteria and continues to unlawfully withhold their promulgation after the Trump administration paused White House review of the measure. Environmental Defense Alliance (EDA), a Birmingham, AL, group, and Waterkeepers Florida filed an Aug. 19 complaint to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, seeking to compel...

Court Grants EPA Request To Again Delay Suit Over PFAS CERCLA Rule

The D.C. Circuit has granted the Trump EPA’s request -- its fifth -- to again delay industry litigation challenging the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, giving the agency 30 more days to determine how to proceed. “Upon consideration of respondents’ unopposed motion to continue abeyance, it is ORDERED that the motion be granted, and these cases continue to remain in abeyance,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...

Environmentalists Fight EPA Bid To Freeze MATS, PM2.5 NAAQS Litigation

Environmentalists are resisting EPA’s push to continue delaying litigation over presidential waivers from power plant air toxics standards and the Biden administration’s tougher fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air standards, warning that further delay would merely postpone resolution of issues ripe for decision now. EPA is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for additional pauses in cases over its exemption of power plants from compliance with the Biden EPA’s tightened mercury and air toxics standards...

Environmentalists Urge D.C. Circuit To Quickly Scrap Methane-Delay Rule

Environmental groups are pressing the D.C. Circuit to quickly scrap EPA’s interim final rule (IFR) delaying oil and gas companies’ compliance deadlines for Biden-era methane rules, filing a motion for summary vacatur that argues the interim measure flouts core Clean Air Act procedural requirements. “EPA’s action substantially delays compliance dates under a final Clean Air Act rule the agency issued in 2024, which provides critical protections against some of the nation’s largest sources of air pollution,” the groups say in...

Montana Group Threatens Suit Over EPA Failure To Revise State’s WQS

A Montana environmental group is threatening to sue EPA over its failure to approve or disapprove the state’s revised water quality standards (WQS) for nutrients within Clean Water Act (CWA) deadlines, though the group charges that the standards are unlawful and the agency should disapprove it. The Upper Missouri Waterkeeper, a group based in Bozeman, MT, sent EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin an Aug. 7 notice of intent to sue (NOI) over what it charges is the agency’s failure to comply...

Kansas officials feud over joining EPA grant freeze challenge

Kansas’ Republican attorney general (AG) is seeking to block the state’s Democratic governor from joining a suit brought by Democratic state AGs’ seeking to halt what they say are unlawful Trump administration grant freezes at EPA and other agencies. Kansas AG Kris Kobach (R) in an Aug. 14 filing in New Jersey, et al. v. Office of Management & Budge (OMB),, et al. , in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts urges the court to dismiss a...

Environmentalists Sue EPA For Scrapping Biden ‘Project Accounting’ Plan

Environmentalists are suing EPA over its decision to withdraw a Biden-era proposal to tighten a rule from the first Trump administration that eased new source review (NSR) air permit analysis by allowing industry to count emissions decreases in the first step of NSR and more-easily avoid more in-depth review and possible tougher controls. In their Aug. 18 suit , Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) et al. v. EPA , filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia...

EPA Asks Court For Fifth Delay In Suit Challenging PFAS CERCLA Rule

The Trump EPA is again asking the D.C. Circuit to delay litigation in a case brought by industry challenging the Biden-era rule designating two legacy PFAS as “hazardous substances” under the Superfund law, the fifth such request the agency has made as officials say they still need more time to evaluate how to proceed in the litigation. “EPA’s new leadership is currently still in the process of reviewing the issues presented in this case, evaluating the Rule within the broader...

Trump DOJ Continues NSR Enforcement Against Detroit EES Coke Plant

With support from environmentalists, the Trump administration is continuing what appears to be a vigorous enforcement action over alleged Clean Air Act new source review (NSR) violations against an EES Coke facility in the Detroit, MI, area and its parent, Detroit Edison (DTE), a local utility, ahead of a highly anticipated bench trial. In a just-filed supplemental brief, the department rejected the facility’s new defense that it is not a “major” stationary source under the air law. Senior Judge Gershwin...

EPA Again Delays TCE Rule From Taking Effect While Litigation Continues

EPA is extending once again the compliance deadlines for TSCA restrictions on certain critical uses of the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) to preserve the status quo while waiting for a federal appeals court to respond to competing requests over how consolidated litigation over the Biden-era TCE risk management rule should proceed. In a pre-publication Federal Register notice , EPA says it is postponing by an additional 90 days -- until Nov. 17 -- “the conditions imposed on each of the...

DOJ, EJ grant backers spar over scope of high court injunction ban

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and plaintiffs seeking to force EPA to release frozen environmental justice (EJ) grants are sparring over the scope of a recent Supreme Court ruling curtailing nationwide injunctions, with DOJ arguing that the holding bars plaintiffs’ request in this case to enjoin the freeze while plaintiffs’ attorneys arguing the opposite.The dueling positions on the impact of the high court’s June 27 holding in Trump v. CASA are laid out in new supplemental briefs in National...

Dischargers Cite TSCA 1,4-DX Re-Evaluation In Defense Against Water Suit

The city of Asheboro, NC, and a nearby plastics manufacturer are pointing to the Trump EPA’s reconsideration of a TSCA risk assessment for 1,4-dioxane (1,4-DX) in their defense of a Clean Water Act (CWA) citizen suit alleging they unlawfully discharged the chemical -- though environmentalists say EPA’s action is irrelevant. The defendants in Cape Fear River Watch and Haw River Assembly v. City of Asheboro, et al. , pending in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North...

ELG Ruling Could Delay Revisions Amid EPA Cuts, Former Official Says

A former EPA official says that the recent 9th Circuit ruling finding the agency unlawfully failed to revise effluent limits for seven industrial categories will require review of additional data in biennial program plans, a move that requires additional time and resources and could face additional delays due to Trump administration budget cuts. Betsy Southerland, who led EPA’s office that oversees the effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) program, told Inside EPA in an interview that if the ruling stands, “EPA...

EPA sets hearings on rules to delay Biden-era air standards

Responding to environmentalists’ requests, EPA is planning to hold public hearings next month on its controversial interim final rules (IFRs) extending compliance deadlines with Biden-era air rules in the coke ovens, steel and oil and gas sectors, which are already facing legal challenges from environmentalists. The agency is also extending comment deadlines on the measures. The agency will host a virtual public hearing Sept. 2 on its IFR extending deadlines for control of methane and other emissions from oil and...

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