Litigation
Court ruling will force EPA to take action it was required to take in 1983 (!)
It is not unusual for the federal government to neglect its statutory duties under federal environmental laws; when it does, citizen suits are the primary means of ensuring that the government follows the law. Sometimes federal agencies’ inaction results from lack of resources, and sometimes it results from intentionally interpreting its duties in a minimalist manner. In some …
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CONTINUE READINGAnother Posthumous Loss for the Bush EPA
Greenwire Reports: The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that U.S. EPA’s 2006 standards for fine particulate matter were, “in several respects, contrary to law and unsupported by adequately reasoned decisionmaking.” At issue was the rule that kept the primary standard for annual fine particulate matter at 15 micrograms per …
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CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Denies Cert. in Mercury Case
The Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court opinion striking down the Bush Administration’s regulation of mercury. This isn’t a huge surprise since the Obama Admimistration indicated that the lower court opinion was consistent with its own regulatory policy, leaving only the industry to seek revieew. The lower court opinion is one of …
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CONTINUE READINGWolf woes
Wolf conservation has long been among both the most controversial and the most creative aspects of implementation of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. There’s been a flurry of wolf news over the past three months. It emphasizes conflict, some of that over attempts at creative ESA implementation. In the southwest the Mexican wolf is suffering …
CONTINUE READINGLegal Challenge to RGGI
The operator of a cogeneration plant in upstate New York, Indeck Corinth, has filed suit to challenge the Northeastern states’ carbon trading scheme, RGGI. Apart from some state law claims, the most significant claims seem to be preemption under PURPA and Compact Clause violation. For reasons, discussed in this article, I think the Compact Clause …
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CONTINUE READINGCan NEPA save the world?
New Scientist‘s blog, Short Sharp Science, reports that repairs on the proton-smashing Large Hadron Collider at Europe’s CERN may be complete by September. What’s the environmental law connection? You might recall that before the LHC was briefly fired up in September 2008 (it only worked for 9 days before crashing), a lawsuit was filed in …
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