On October 23, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency published its final rule known as the Clean Power Plan, a state-centered plan to reduce carbon emissions from fossil-fueled power plants, the single largest source of carbon pollution. The Clean Power Plan, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: EPA
Making Challenges to an Impaired Waters Listing Stick
This article is reprinted with the permission of Law360, where it originally appeared on July 30, 2014, under the title “Arguing Injury Can Prevent Harm From EPA Water Listing.” The listing of a water body as impaired under the Clean … Continue reading
D.C. Circuit rebuffs another coal mining industry challenge
Last year, we reported on Mingo Logan Coal Co. v. EPA, 714 F.3d 608 (D.C. Cir. 2013). In that case, a coal mining company argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had exceeded its statutory authority when it invoked … Continue reading
Do water transfers require NPDES permits? The debate continues.
Whether or not a discharge qualifies as a “discharge of a pollutant” determines whether or not it is regulated under the Clean Water Act, which has significant consequences for the person discharging. Section 301 of the Act broadly prohibits “the discharge … Continue reading
Consent decrees take center stage in two high profile environmental cases
Consent decrees are settlement agreements among litigating parties that are sanctioned by and entered as orders of the court. By any measure, last week was an important week for consent decrees in environmental litigation. On Monday, over the objections of several intervening … Continue reading
District Court cries “fowl” on EPA attempt to expand CAFO permitting authority
Late last month, in a decision that should come as no surprise to those following the proceedings, the Northern District of West Virginia held that EPA lacked the authority to issue a compliance order under the Clean Water Act (CWA) to an operator of a concentrated … Continue reading
Pennsylvania climate change litigation must begin its long journey at the Environmental Hearing Board
Earlier this month, in Funk v. DEP, No. 713 M.D. 2012 (Pa. Cmwlth., Opinion filed July 3, 2013), the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania dismissed a petition for review seeking to require the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to submit a petition for rulemaking to regulate … Continue reading