The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected two lawsuits brought by 15 states and Peabody Energy Corp., which seek to block the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The lawsuits are In re West Virginia, D.C. Cir., No. 15-1277; In re Peabody Energy Corp., D.C. Cir., No. 15-1284. The final Clean Power Plan has not yet been issued, and EPA expects that it will be published in late October. The petitioners requested that the Court issue an extraordinary writ under the All Writs Act to block the final Clean Power Plan, arguing that the rule is… Read more
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States’ Motion to Consolidate Clean Power Plan Lawsuit Denied
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has denied an emergency motion from 15 states to consolidate their lawsuit challenging the EPA’s Clean Power Plan with other pending appeals challenging the EPA’s carbon dioxide standards. The states, which include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming, will still be able to pursue their lawsuit that seeks a stay to block implementation of the carbon dioxide emissions standards. The states sought an extraordinary writ to halt implementation of the Clean Power Plan before the rule is published… Read more
WOTUS Rule Challenges
As previously reported in the Smith, Gambrell & Russell Environmental & Sustainability Newsletter, on June 29, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released their final rule defining the “waters of the United States” (WOTUS) and the jurisdictional scope of the Clean Water Act. The rule is in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2006 decision in Rapanos v. United States, 547 U.S. 715 (2006), and will go into effect on August 28, 2015. The rule is expected to have significant impact on a number of industries, including farming, energy transmission, transportation, construction, and agriculture. On… Read more