On September 14, 2023, in Conservation Law Foundation v. Academy Bus, a Massachusetts District Court held that the members of the Conservation Law Foundation (the “Foundation”) lacked standing to challenge the idling of buses under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”).  Conservation Law Found. v. Acad. Express, LLC., No. 20-10032-WGY, 2023 WL 5984517, at *1 (D. Mass. Sept. 14, 2023). Specifically, the court held that simply breathing in polluted air, without any concrete injury that is fairly traceable to the defendant, is not sufficient to prove an actual injury under the CAA. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Air, Citizens Suit, Clean Air Act, Emissions, HAPs, Hazardous Air Pollutants, Odors, Standing

This post was authored by Alice Douglas, with contributions from Summer Associate Reilly Wright 

On July 5, 2023, the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the largest offshore wind energy project to date—known as Ocean Wind 1—which will entail the construction of up to 98 wind turbines and up to 3 offshore substations off the coast of New Jersey over the next two years.  Ocean Wind 1, financed by the Danish company Orsted, is the third offshore wind energy project to gain approval by the Biden administration, following the Vineyard Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts and the South Fork Wind project off the coast of Rhode Island and New York, which are both currently under construction. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Procedures Act, Citizen Suit, Climate Change, Endangered Species Act, Energy, NEPA, Permits, Standing

Over the last week, pre-enforcement challenges to two separate federal government actions have been dismissed for lack of standing.  In Commonwealth of Kentucky et al. v. EPA, et al., No 3:23-cv-00007-GFVT, 2023 WL 2733383 (E.D. Ky. March 31, 2023), the Honorable Gregory F. Van Tatenhove of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky dismissed without prejudice claims brought by the Commonwealth of Kentucky (the “Commonwealth”) and private-sector plaintiffs challenging the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) and Army Corps of Engineers’ rule redefining “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act.  Five days later, in The State of Louisiana, et al. v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., et al., No. 22-30087, 2023 WL 2780821 (5th Cir. April 5, 2023), the Honorable Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit dismissed states’ challenges to President Biden’s social cost of greenhouse gases established pursuant to Executive Order No. 13990 (the “Executive Order”).  Both cases demonstrate the importance of alleging sufficient harm to confer federal court jurisdiction. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Air, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Due Process, Federal Jurisdiction, Federal Procedure, Greenhouse Gas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Procedure, Rapanos, Standing, Water

That federal agencies enjoy numerous advantages in defending against legal challenges to their administrative decision-making is a fact of administrative law.  But these advantages extend beyond the favorable standards of review that typically apply to their decisions.  An agency can, for example, sometimes short circuit what might be a meritorious appeal by seeking a “voluntary remand” from the Court, thereby potentially affording itself more control over any reconsideration while avoiding creating unfavorable precedent.  As a reminder of this, the Sixth Circuit recently held that EPA was entitled to reconsider one of its Clean Air Act (CAA) rulemakings, namely its decision to remove the air nuisance rule (ANR), a broad standard that generally prohibited nuisance emissions that endangered the “health, safety, or welfare of the public,” from Ohio’s State Implementation Plan (SIP), without the Court vacating EPA’s underlying decision.  Sierra Club et al. v. EPA, No. 21-3057, 2023 WL 1873168, at * 1 (6th Cir. Feb. 10, 2023).    Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Appeals, Citizen Suit, Clean Air Act, Sixth Circuit, Standing

In Curtis v. 7-Eleven, No. 21-cv-6079, 2022 WL 4182384, at * 1 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 13, 2022), the Honorable Steven C. Seeger of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois delivered an eminently readable and entertaining decision, granting in part and dismissing in part 7-Eleven’s motion to dismiss a number of “greenwashing” claims brought against it by putative class representative, Devon Curtis.  Greenwashing is defined as “the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is.” In her complaint, Curtis alleges that she purchased foam plates, foam cups, party cups, and freezer bags from 7-Eleven.  Even though these products were labeled “recyclable”, Curtis alleges that they never really were, either because very few recycling facilities accept these products or because some of the products lacked markings, known as RIC numbers, which recycling facilities use to sort products by plastic type.   Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Class Actions, Greenwashing, Illinois, Injunction, Landfill, Standing, Waste

Before neighboring property owners can intervene to challenge a consent decree in a remediation action, they must establish Article III standing. On August 5, 2022, The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota and held that neighboring property owners of a chemical plant undergoing environmental remediation lacked constitutional standing to intervene to oppose an amended consent decree and remedial action plan. United States v. Reilly Tar & Chem. Corp., Slip Op. No. 20-2786 (8^th Cir. Aug. 5, 2022). The court reasoned that the entry of the amended consent decree was not a causal link of the proposed intervenors’ harm because it did not require the chemical plant to clean-up chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) and perchloroethylene (PCE) and therefore did not alter the chemical plant’s preexisting duties regarding PCE. Id. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: CERCLA, Consent Decree, Eighth Circuit, Groundwater, Intervention, Solvents, Standing, Superfund

The post was authored by summer associate Nik Hansen.

The State of Delaware brought claims against former PCB manufacturer Monsanto Company for the environmental contamination caused by PCB products in Delaware waterways. On July 11, 2022, in State of Delaware v. Monsanto Co., C.A. No. N21C-09-179, the Delaware Superior Court found that the State failed to state valid claims for public nuisance, trespass, and unjust enrichment against Monsanto. In its three-part holding, the Court held that product-related public nuisance claims are not cognizable in the state of Delaware, that the State does not have standing to bring trespass claims against resources it holds in public trust, and that unjust enrichment cannot be brought as a stand-alone claim in the superior court. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Contamination, Delaware, Nuisance, PCBs, Standing, Trespass

When a public interest environmental rights group or other party appeals a decision by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection affecting a planned project, it should name the permittee as a party on the Notice of Appeal and serve them accordingly. On April 11, 2022, the Supreme Court of New Jersey remanded a case back to the Appellate Division and held that an appellant natural gas company should have been named as a party in the Notice of Appeal and served. See In re Proposed Constr. of Compressor Station (CS327), No. 086428 (Apr. 11, 2022). Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Administrative Appeals, Intervention, Natural Gas, New Jersey, Oil and Gas, Permits, Pipelines, Procedure, Standing

Last week, a federal court in the Central District of Illinois held the owner and operator of a coal-fired power plant liable for violations of the Clean Air Act for exceeding particulate matter emission thresholds in the plant’s state operating permit.  NRDC v. Ill. Power Res., LLC, No. 13-cv-1181, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111976 (C.D. Ill. Aug. 23, 2016).  The court found that the plaintiffs—three environmental advocacy organizations who filed suit under the citizen suit provision of the CAA—had standing to sue the plant because certain of their individual members suffered injury-in-fact where emitted pollutants that “could cause harm” were present in the witnesses’ general geographic area and the witnesses’ pleasure was somehow diminished by the presence of the pollutants, even where the witnesses could not point to an objective effect of the alleged violation. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: Citizen Suit, Clean Air Act, Emissions, Federal Procedure, Hazardous Air Pollutants, Illinois, Permits, Standing

A recent decision from the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York reminds that one should never take for granted any procedural matter and, in particular, standing to sue. Read More »

Share | Email| Comments|  Topics: New York, Procedure, Real Estate, Standing