On May 30, 2018, US EPA issued a final rule to revise the regulations associated with the 2015 Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) Rule. US EPA performed this rulemaking to bring the regulations in line with the D.C. Circuit’s 2017 and 2018 rulings in American Petroleum Institute v. EPA (Case No. 09-1038), which vacated and … Continue Reading
On March 6, 2018, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals modified its 2017 ruling in American Petroleum Institute v. EPA, No. 09-1038, concerning US EPA’s Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) Rule under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which defines when hazardous recyclable materials are excluded from regulation as hazardous waste. The end result … Continue Reading
On July 7, 2017, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision striking down portions of US EPA’s Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) Rule, which defines when certain hazardous secondary materials (i.e. recyclable materials generated as the remainder of industrial processes) become “discarded” and thus subject to regulation as a solid waste. The Rule, … Continue Reading
On December 15, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected challenges by energy industry groups and several states that are seeking to scrap US EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (“MATS”) final rule. White Stallion Energy Center, LLC v. EPA, Case No. 12-1100. The Court remanded the rule to US EPA for … Continue Reading
On July 28, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit remanded part of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) to USEPA for reconsideration, finding that the Agency had erred in 2014 sulfur dioxide and ozone budgets for 13 states. The next opportunity to influence outcome will be US EPA’s rulemaking process for re-setting … Continue Reading
This month, in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association, the US Supreme Court overturned the D.C. Circuit’s Paralyzed Veteran doctrine, rejecting nearly 20 years of precedent requiring federal agencies to abide by notice-and-comment rulemaking procedures when they substantially alter an “interpretive” rule. However, the decision also hints that even broader changes may be afoot. Writing in … Continue Reading
On June 2, US EPA published a final rule that outlines the regulatory framework states must follow to implement the 1997 and 2006 standards for fine particulate matter, or PM2.5. The Rule was issued in response to a remand from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in January 2013, which returned for correction a pair of rules … Continue Reading
On May 9, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld US EPA’s rule revising the annual National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) despite serious concerns regarding how states and regulated entities are to proceed under new rules. The January 2013 final rule lowers the annual allowable limit for PM2.5, eliminates the option of “spatial … Continue Reading
On April 29, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-2 opinion reversing the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals and reinstating the U.S. EPA’s promulgation of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (“CSAPR”), which regulates the inter-state transport of NOx and SO2 emissions in implementing the “Good Neighbor Provision” in the Clean Air Act. A centerpiece … Continue Reading
On February 28, 2014, EPA filed two motions with the D.C. Circuit that further delayed briefing in the suit over EPA’s National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Major Sources: Industrial, Commercial, and Institutional Boilers and Process Heaters (Boiler MACT). EPA’s first motion sought a partial remand of the rule and its second motion sought … Continue Reading
The US Supreme Court has decided to hear USEPA’s challenge to the invalidatition of the Cross State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) by the DC Circuit in EME Homer City Generation L.P., et al, v. EPA. The CSAPR requires 28 states to reduce power plant emissions that contribute to the “downwind” transport of ozone and fine particulate matter pollution … Continue Reading