Last week, the D.C. Circuit upheld EPA’s 2008 ozone standard of 75 ppb, although it remanded the agency’s decision to set a secondary standard at exactly the same level.  It may seem strange for the court to take five years to issue its decision on these ozone standards, but the court was marking time while EPA proposed to lower the standard to between 60 and 70 ppb, only to have that proposal rejected by the White House in light of plans to re-evaluate the standard whole cloth in 2013.

On Friday, July 19th, the Tenth Circuit issued a much-anticipated decision in the lawsuit over regional haze requirements in Oklahoma.  In a split decision, with three judges writing three separate opinions, the majority of the Tenth Circuit panel deferred to EPA’s position instead of respecting the state authority granted to Oklahoma under the Clean Air Act.

Last Tuesday, the Tenth Circuit added its name to the growing list of federal appellate courts that agree EPA need not withhold approval of Title V operating permit renewals simply because a citizen group, or even EPA itself, has alleged violations of the New Source Review (NSR) program.  Three other courts that have addressed this issue (the Sixth, Seventh, and Eleventh Circuits) have likewise held that EPA could approve Title V permits despite unresolved NSR claims, leaving the Second Circuit as the only court to hold otherwise.

Troutman Sanders LLP is pleased to announce that environmental and natural resources lawyer Sean M. Sullivan has joined the firm as a partner in the Raleigh, North Carolina office.

Sean’s practice focuses on compliance counseling and enforcement defense regarding all of the major federal environmental statutes, as well as the preparation of comments on federal and state rulemakings, brownfields redevelopment, and environmental support for the firm’s corporate and real estate practices.

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who had been holding up Gina McCarthy’s nomination in committee, announced on Tuesday that he won’t support a filibuster against her confirmation on the senate floor. Vitter and other members of the Committee on Environment and Public Works had indicated their dissatisfaction with EPA’s responses to five transparency questions in May.  

Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit vacated yet another EPA rule related to air quality.  This time, the court took issue with EPA’s decision to temporarily exempt biomass facilities from its new greenhouse gas permitting requirements.  Without the exemption, obtaining an air quality permit for a new biomass facility, or any major modifications of an existing facility, will be much more difficult.

EPA has signaled an intent to make its Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) rule — which imposes stringent emission limits on coal and oil-fired utilities beginning in 2015 — a bit easier to manage.  However, the proposed revision may still fall short of what is needed for half of the utilities in the country, according to EPA’s own analysis.