Tag: Supreme Court

Still Planning for the CPP

The Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) has assembled an illuminating summary of state reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court’s stay of the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The stay recognizes the strength of judicial challenges to the rule and allows those challenges to proceed through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and […]

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Challenging TMDL Program

In a blow to the agricultural and land development sectors, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case challenging EPA’s 2010 total maximum daily load (TMDL) program for the Chesapeake Bay. The case was launched in 2011 when the American Farm Bureau, the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the National Association of Home Builders, and others […]

States Ask Supreme Court to Stay EPA’s MATS

The attorneys general (AGs) of 20 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) because the Agency had no legal authority to promulgate them. The AGs base their argument on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Michigan v. EPA (2015), in which a 5–4 majority ruled that the […]

States Against the Federal Clean Power Plan

When the U.S. Supreme Court granted a state petition to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) until the state case against the plan worked its way through the U.S. appeals court (and possibly the Supreme Court itself), the five justices favoring the stay did not specify why they made that decision. However, in their brief, […]

Clean Power Plan Stayed by Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition from 29 states and state agencies seeking to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) while challenges to the plan progress through the federal courts. The practical effect of the Court’s order is that the first deadline of June 30, 2016, for states to submit their initial plans for […]

MATS Implementation to Continue

In a brief order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has allowed the EPA to continue implementing its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for fossil-fuel power plants while the Agency works on finalizing a proposed determination that consideration of cost does not alter EPA’s previous determination that it is appropriate to […]

CWA Jurisdictional Case goes to the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court continued its keen interest in the reach of the Clean Water Act (CWA) by agreeing to hear a case about whether a jurisdictional determination (JD) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) constituted a final action by the Corps. The Supreme Court will review a ruling by a panel of […]

WOTUS Stayed!

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals (Court) recently issued a stay nationwide against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) from enforcing the revised definition of “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), also known as the Clean Water Rule.

Do You Have a Warrant? The Pros and Cons of Asking

Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc., employers have a constitutional right to demand that OSHA obtain a warrant before initiating an inspection. Such a warrant must be based on probable cause—that is, a reasonable basis for the selection of the facility. If OSHA, when faced with a request, fails to […]