The Waste-to-Energy Association (“WTEA”) submitted July 1st comments to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) addressing the proposed rule styled: Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) stated in a November16th letter that an oil refinery on St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands may not resume operations without going through New Source Review (“NSR”)....more
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has largely affirmed a District Court order finding that Ameren Missouri violated the NSR provisions of the Clean Air Act in making major modifications to its Rush Island facility. The...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced on October 22nd it had finalized certain New Source Review (“NSR”) regulations associated with the Clean Air Act Prevention of Significant Deterioration...more
Late last month, Federal Judge Rodney Sippel ruled that EPA could obtain injunctive relief against Ameren Missouri in the long-running NSR enforcement case concerning Ameren’s Rush Island Plant. The Court had already ruled...more
After 10 years on ice, EPA’s 2009 project aggregation rule may finally see its day in court. On Monday, January 14, 2019, NRDC filed a petition for judicial review of EPA’s recent revival of a 2009 Rule that amended EPA’s...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published a November 7th Federal Register Notice described as a “Final Action” that concludes: . . . the reconsideration of an earlier action that the EPA published...more
New Source Review (“NSR”) remains a focus of enforcement for EPA. Between last year and now, EPA finalized eight settlements with manufacturers and one with a utility, asserting NSR violations for allegedly not obtaining a...more
Given EPA’s recent run of defeats in its NSR enforcement initiative, it’s probably breathing a sigh of relief over last week’s decision in United States v. Ameren Missouri, regarding Ameren’s Rush Island coal-fired power...more
Last year, after a string of defeats for EPA in its NSR enforcement initiative, I suggested that the initiative was in trouble, but that EPA was probably not yet ready to concede defeat. After the latest blow, earlier this...more
Pennsylvania Court Limits NSR Permit Aggregation - In February, the Middle District of Pennsylvania struck down an environmental group’s challenge that Ultra Resources should have aggregated eight compressor stations...more
Following a ruling by the D.C. Circuit, EPA may no longer consider interrelatedness in determining adjacency when making source determination decisions in its Title V or New Source Review permitting decisions under the Clean...more
The trend of cases holding that the NSR provisions of the Clean Air Act constitute a one-time preconstruction review requirement got stronger earlier this month, as the decision in Sierra Club v. Oklahoma Gas and Electric...more
Last spring, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that when power plant owners compare actual emissions to projected future actual emissions for the purpose of determining whether a project is subject to the Clean Air Act’s...more
As I have previously noted, the government’s record in NSR enforcement cases has been going downhill, particularly with important defeats before the 3rd and 7th Circuits’ Courts of Appeals. The latest governmental defeat...more
On August 21, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit roundly dismissed an enforcement action brought under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several...more