Federalism—the cooperative legal relationship between state governments and the federal government—with regard to the Clean Air Act was addressed in a recent opinion published by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. The panel affirmed a district court finding that the right of private property owners to sue a whiskey distillery in Louisville, Kentucky, under state common law was not preempted by the Clean Air Act (CAA).
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The case involves emissions from Diageo Americas Supply, a company that distills and ages whiskey. The processes generated ethanol emissions that settled on nearby personal property and produced a whiskey fungus.
According to the property owners, the whiskey fungus created an “unsightly condition [on the property,] requiring abnormal and costly cleaning and maintenance, [and causes] early weathering of surfaces [and] unreasonable and substantial annoyance and unreasonable interference with the use and enjoyment of the property.”