The Legal and Practical Challenges of California's Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
Nota Bene Episode 101: Catching up with Global Climate Regulation with Nico van Aelstyn
Schoenbrod: SCOTUS Ruling Helps EPA Deal With a "Stupid Statute"
On May 16, in Texas v. EPA, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected EPA’s nonattainment designation for two counties in Texas. What I find most interesting about the case is the reaction to it. Inside EPA (subscription...more
On May 16, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a significant ruling in a longstanding dispute between the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency...more
Every law student learns that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) outlines the default rules for how federal agencies propose and finalize regulations and how courts review them. But for many significant actions under the...more
Earlier this month, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals vacated most of EPA’s startup, shutdown, and malfunction SIP Call. The Court’s rationale boils down to EPA’s failure to make a predicate finding that the SIP call...more
The United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (“Fifth Circuit”) in a February 16th Order considered the Port Arthur Community Action Network (“PACAN”) Petition for a review of a decision by the Texas Commission on...more
The United States Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (“Committee”) held a March 29th hearing titled: The EPA Good Neighbor Rule: Healthier Air for Downwind States (“Hearing”)...more
Last week, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges to EPA’s “Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Update Rule”. The Court found that the Rule was “an appropriate exercise of EPA’s statutory authority”....more
Harvest Four Corners, LLC, (“Harvest”) submitted a Petition for Review (“Petition”) on October 11th before the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”). The Petition...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”) addressed in a September 2nd Order a Petition filed by MPLX challenging a permit condition that the federal agency placed in a...more
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Environmental Appeals Board (“EAB”) issued a July 21st Order addressing a Petition by the American Bottom Conservancy (“Conservancy”) which challenged the issuance...more
The Sierra Club and National Parks Conservation Association (collectively “Sierra Club”) filed a Petition for Review (“Petition”) on November 25, 2019 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit challenging...more
The Sierra Club and National Parks Conservation Association (collectively “Sierra Club”) filed a Petition for Review (“Petition”) challenging the United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) approval of revisions to...more
On Tuesday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals vacated EPA’s “Close-Out Rule,” which basically concluded that upwind states contributing to exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone in downwind...more
Major sources of air pollution must obtain a Clean Air Act Title V permit under their state’s EPA- approved implementation plan. Permits, of course, can be challenged. By petition to the EPA Administrator, the Sierra Club...more
The District of Columbia United States Court of Appeals (“Court”) addressed in a June 14th opinion a title V Clean Air Act judicial review issue. See Sierra Club v. Environmental Protection Agency, 2019 WL 2479448. The...more
California Targets Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ride-Hailing Companies - At a February 22, 2019 workshop, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) unveiled its planned “Clean Miles Standard” that will require...more
The status of a controversial rule establishing more stringent ambient air quality standards for ozone—promulgated by former President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)—remains unclear following a series of...more
July 18, 2017, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals remanded EPA’s MACT standards for PCBs, polycyclic organic matter, and hexachlorobenzene to EPA. Rather than setting specific MACT standards for these compounds, EPA regulated...more
On April 11, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit vacated a 2008 EPA rule, which had exempted certain agricultural operations from federal air emission reporting requirements...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Appeals court upholds California’s cap-and-trade system - Sacramento Bee - Apr 6 - A state appeals court handed a major victory to California’s signature climate-change program on...more
“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” Many important environmental and administrative law decisions were reported by the federal and state courts over the past six months. The courts are dealing with very...more
If there’s any good news for industry in the recent 162-page decision issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on the Boiler MACT, we can’t find it. The court rejected all challenges by industry...more
Environmental and Policy Focus - Appellate court temporarily blocks Delta island sale - Sacramento Bee - Jun 7 - The California Third District Court of Appeal on Tuesday granted a temporary stay blocking...more
In Sierra Club v. Environmental Protection Agency, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 1408 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 22, 2013), the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision that is likely to have a significant impact on...more