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.

CARB Seeks Dismissal Of Truckers’ Lawsuit To Block ZEV Fleet Rules

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is urging a federal court to dismiss truckers’ constitutional lawsuit challenging the board’s landmark regulation requiring truck fleets to purchase increasing numbers of zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), as EPA weighs whether to grant the board a Clean Air Act (CAA) preemption waiver for the rule. The Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule, which culminates in a 100 percent ZEV purchase mandate in 2036, is part of the state’s broader strategy to slash greenhouse gases from the...

Denka Hints At Suit On Chloroprene Rules As Enforcement Case Pauses

Denka Performance Elastomer (DPE), the sole domestic manufacturer of neoprene, is warning White House officials that EPA’s imminent emissions rule for chloroprene, a key synthetic rubber component, is unlawful, signaling a new suit that could shift the company’s litigation focus as the agency decides whether to continue its landmark enforcement action against the Louisiana facility. In a presentation to White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and EPA officials March 7, Bracewell attorneys representing Denka raised a series of...

Appellate Court Again Blocks Kern County Oil & Gas Rule Over CEQA Review

A California appellate court is for the second time blocking Kern County’s sweeping oil and gas permitting ordinance, ruling that county officials failed to comply with environmental assessment and mitigation requirements under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for several different aspects of the plan. “The court saw right through the county’s deceptive tactics on oil industry pollution and prevented an end run around the state’s fundamental public protections,” said Hollin Kretzmann, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity,...

Court Blocks Industry Bid To Win EPA Review Of Waste Combustors’ Risks

A federal district court has rejected the waste incineration industry’s push to force EPA to conduct a risk review of its air rules for municipal waste combustors (MWCs), which the industry sought as a precursor to an ongoing technology review that could tighten emissions limits, although the ruling allows for a fresh industry challenge. In a March 13 ruling in Waste To Energy Association (WTEA) v. EPA, et al. , Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the...

Draft Settlement Would Target TSCA Wheel Weight Proposal For December

EPA is floating a draft settlement with environmental and public health groups that would commit the agency to advance a long-delayed TSCA rulemaking for lead wheel weights, with either a proposed rule or formal action abandoning the process to arrive by Dec. 31 and any final rule due on Sept. 30, 2025. The proposed settlement agreement for In re: Ecology Center, et al. , which EPA published for a 30-day comment period in the March 13 Federal Register , calls...

Citizen Suit Highlights Continuing Concern As EPA’s Nitrate Standards Lag

A group of Oregon citizens is suing local agriculture and industrial wastewater companies under federal waste law for contributing to significant nitrate contamination of groundwater in the region, highlighting growing concerns over the substances as EPA moves slowly in its efforts to review their risks and strengthen drinking water standards. Plaintiffs in the suit Pearson, et al., v. Port of Morrow, Lamb Weston, et al. , filed a Feb. 28 class action complaint under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act...

High Court Urged To Narrow D.C. Circuit’s Downstream GHG NEPA Holding

Seven Utah counties and a railroad company are asking the Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling requiring consideration of the downstream greenhouse gases under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), arguing that the high court has already determined agencies can only consider environmental effects within their jurisdiction. The March 4 petition for a writ of certiorari in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition & Uinta Basin Railway, LLC., v. Eagle County, CO, and Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), et...

Environmentalists See EPA Court Win On CCR Rule Bolstering Enforcement

Environmentalists are optimistic about the outcome of recent oral arguments in a landmark case challenging EPA’s interpretation of its coal combustion residuals (CCR) regulations, and are hoping that an affirmative ruling for the agency could provide a tool for regulators and advocates to use in future enforcement actions against industry noncompliance. “Our hope is if we get a strong opinion from the court, that EPA can use that in its compliance and enforcement efforts, which we have seen evidence are...

EPA plans to restore Ohio’s ‘nuisance’ air rule to SIP

EPA is moving to restore an air pollution “nuisance” rule as part of Ohio’s state implementation plan (SIP) for meeting federal air quality standards, reversing a Trump-era decision to scrap the measure, after a federal appeals court found environmentalists had standing to sue, and granted the Biden EPA’s request for remand of the earlier decision. The Air Nuisance Rule (ANR), which generally barred emission “of smoke, ashes, dust, dirt, grime, acids, fumes, gases, vapors” and a range of other substances,...

Biogas Producers Press Case Against EPA Regulatory ‘Overreach’ Under RFS

Biogas producers are making their closing arguments against EPA’s rule setting tougher conditions for tracking generation of renewable fuel standard (RFS) credits, which they say exceeds the agency’s statutory authority by regulating gas “feedstock” suppliers, but which EPA insists is both lawful and necessary to prevent fraud. In a final brief filed ahead of April 25 oral arguments in Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) v. EPA , biogas producers urge the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of...

Amid Circuit Split, Industry Backs Texas’ Stance On ‘Contingency’ Measures

Energy industry groups are backing Texas’ suit challenging EPA’s disapproval of its state air quality plan over “contingency measures” (CMs) for ozone reduction, in a case that may deepen an existing circuit split on the issue and further undermine the agency’s policy that is already under attack elsewhere. In an amicus brief filed Feb. 28 in State of Texas v. EPA , pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, the Texas Oil & Gas Association,...

EPA poised to release tougher steel sector air toxics rule

EPA is poised to soon release its rule tightening air toxics limits for integrated iron and steel plants after the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed review, as the agency runs up against a judicial deadline to sign the regulation and industry and lawmakers of both parties push back against its tougher requirements. OMB completed prepublication review March 8, according to its website, clearing a path for Administrator Michael Regan to sign the rule by a March...

Federal Judge Rejects GOP States, Industry Bid To Block Biden CWA 401 Rule

A federal district court judge is strongly rejecting efforts from a coalition of Republican states and industry groups to block the Biden administration’s Clean Water Act (CWA) 401 water quality certification rule, charging that the plaintiffs failed to establish likelihood of success on the merits and that they do not face concrete irreparable harm. Judge James Cain of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a March 7 order denying plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary injunction on...

EPA Not Expected To Appeal Injunction On Enforcing Title VI In Louisiana

The Biden administration is not expected to appeal a landmark preliminary injunction barring EPA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) from enforcing “disparate impact” regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act in Louisiana, after it won a 60-day extension to file its formal answer to Louisiana’s complaint, sources say. In a Feb. 25 order , Judge James Cain of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana set an April 5 deadline for EPA to formally...

Tire Makers Tout EPA’s TSCA ‘Jurisdiction’ To Fight Suit Over 6PPD Use

Tire manufacturers are seeking to dismiss fishing groups’ suit claiming their products’ use of the anti-cracking chemical 6PPD violates the Endangered Species Act (ESA), saying courts should defer to EPA’s “primary jurisdiction” to regulate the substance under both TSCA and the Clean Water Act (CWA). The March 8 motion to dismiss Institute for Fisheries Resources (IFR), et al. v. Bridgestone, et al . notes that weeks before the plaintiffs filed their suit, EPA granted a Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)...

EPA, Florida Clash Over Court’s Limited Stay Of State’s 404 Permit Program

EPA and the state of Florida are clashing over whether a federal court should issue a limited stay of the state’s Clean Water Act (CWA) section 404 program after it vacated the program, with the federal agency warning that such a stay would fail practically and legally, while Florida proposes options for what a stay of that program could look like. EPA in a Feb. 26 supplemental brief advised the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against issuing...

Texas Challenges Methane Emissions Rule, With More Pushback Expected

Texas officials have filed litigation challenging EPA’s oil and gas sector methane emissions rule, in what sources say is likely to be one of several bids from the sector or Republican states to seek either court review or agency reconsideration of the sweeping regulation. The March 8 petition for review from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, does not outline the state’s legal arguments, but it was...

Appellate Judges Doubt Industry CCR Suits, Questioning Jurisdiction

A three-judge appellate panel is raising doubts over its ability to review the power industry’s challenge to EPA’s plans to deny coal ash facilities’ requests to extend closure deadlines, suggesting the agency’s interpretations underlying its proposed decisions amounted to an interpretative rule rather than a legislative rule that requires notice and comment and is subject to the court’s jurisdiction. “What is the hypothesis if we don’t think this is a rule that requires notice and comment rulemaking?” Judge Cornelia Pillard...

DTSC, Metal Shredder Seek Dismissal Of New Bid To Tighten Facility Rules

California waste regulators and a leading metal-shredding company are seeking to dismiss an amended lawsuit to require the department to more stringently regulate the company’s Oakland shredding facility -- and in turn other such facilities in the state -- after an appellate court reversed a ruling that would have compelled stricter waste management standards. The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) “has performed and continues to perform its legal duties to implement and enforce the” Hazardous Waste Control Law (HWCL)...

CARB Seeks Stay Or Dismissal Of Railroads’ Claims Over Locomotive Rule

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is urging a federal judge to either dismiss the railroad industry’s remaining claims challenging the board’s rule requiring emissions cuts from existing locomotives or stay the case until EPA acts on the board’s pending Clean Air Act (CAA) request for authorization to enforce the rule. Until “EPA acts on CARB’s pending authorization request, there is some uncertainty about which congressionally authorized path is at issue for which of the Regulation’s provisions,” CARB attorneys...

Pages

Not a subscriber? Sign up for 30 days free access to exclusive environmental policy reporting.