Schoenbrod: SCOTUS Ruling Helps EPA Deal With a "Stupid Statute"
Good morning! This is Akin’s newsletter on climate change policy and regulatory developments, providing information on major climate policy headlines from the past two weeks and forthcoming climate-related events and...more
The Environmental Protection Agency, under the Clean Air Act, requires states to work with the EPA to address the interstate transport of air pollution. Under the “Good Neighbor Plan,” the EPA requires each state to implement...more
On December 20, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear oral argument in four consolidated cases: Ohio, et al. v. EPA, et al.; Kinder Morgan, Inc., et al. v. EPA, et al.; American Forest & Paper...more
In February 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral argument on various emergency stay applications addressing whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can implement its “Good Neighbor Plan” (the Plan) to reduce...more
The first three quarters of 2023 have seen an unprecedented number of rulemakings under the Clean Air Act. The Biden administration has released a new suite of proposed rulemakings with a particular focus on climate change...more
With spring finally arriving, the long-expected avalanche of EPA activity on air issues has also arrived. In this second year of the Biden administration, following the pattern of prior administrations, we are starting to see...more
Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on January 20, 2021 as the forty-sixth President of the United States could usher in a sweeping period of environmental regulatory changes vastly eclipsing those of his immediate predecessor...more
Congress addressed the issue of interstate transport of air pollution in the Clean Air Act by enacting a “Good Neighbor Provision.” That provision requires upwind states to eliminate their contributions to air pollution in...more
FIRST 100 DAYS - As President-elect Biden stands poised to assume the office he has aspired to for the past three decades, he inherits a national crisis not unlike the one he stepped into as vice president nearly 12 years...more
A coalition of environmental groups represented by Earthjustice put the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on notice they intend to file a Clean Air Act citizen suit action over the agency’s alleged failure...more
On March 20, 2018, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected environmental and state/industry challenges to EPA’s Regional Haze Rule. In essence, the ruling confirms that EPA was reasonable in determining that compliance...more
The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) Office of Air Quality publishes a quarterly newsletter (“Newsletter). The Fall 2017 edition was recently published....more
On November 16th, EPA proposed an “update” to its Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) ozone season requirements. Starting in 2017, the proposal is intended to reduce summertime emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from power...more
On October 1, 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its final rule lowering the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb nationwide (2015 Ozone...more
On July 28, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise emissions budgets for several states under the agency’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR or the...more
Not only has a new interstate pollution and allowance trading regime kicked in (effective Jan. 1), but the agency has announced that it will publish final carbon standards this summer for new and existing power plants and...more
Two recent appellate-level decisions allowing state common law tort claims against an intrastate emitting source to avoid Clean Air Act (CAA) preemption have surprised many CAA litigators. The outcome in both Bell v....more
Scaling back considerably from the October 2012 Term, the United States Supreme Court issued only a few rulings affecting environmental law during the October 2013 Term. With significant pronouncements regarding EPA’s Clean...more
The Supreme Court handed the Obama administration a victory on Tuesday, April 29, 2014, when it injected new life into an Environmental Protection Agency rule targeting air pollution that drifts across state borders....more
On Tuesday, April 29, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”). EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P., No. 12-1182. In a 6-2 decision,...more
Updates on Environmental, Administrative and Regulatory Law - On April 29th, the United States Supreme Court upheld EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) regulations and reversed the 2012 decision by the U.S....more
The Clean Air Act of 1970 (CAA) requires that states be “Good Neighbors” and regulate their in-state sources of pollution so that those sources do not “contribute significantly” to pollution in other states downwind. ...more
The US Supreme Court issued a strong 6-2 ruling on April 29, 2014 which upheld proposed EPA regulations to regulate air pollution that crosses state boundaries under the Clean Air Act known as the “Cross-State Air Pollution...more
On April 29, 2014, in a 6-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld EPA's view in EPA v. EME Homer City Generation L.P., U.S. Nos. 12-1182 and 12-1183. The opinion is available online. The decision reverses a 2012 ruling...more
On April 29, 2014, the Supreme Court by a 6-2 vote reversed the D.C. Circuit and upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s Transport Rule, which imposed specific Clean Air Act limits on emissions in certain states to...more