Power Plant Emission cases

The 7th. U.S. Court of Appeals sided with the Environmental Protection Agency last Thursday in a case centering around whether to permit power plants to emit increased levels of pollutants into the air after they’d been modernized to operate for longer hours. The EPA said “no,” since the company should have gone thru a prescribed federal permit process; the Court agreed. (U.S. v. Cinergy)

The 4th. Circuit, last year, decided a like case against EPA over disputed language in EPA power plant emission regulations. That case is now before the Supreme Court, with oral arguments scheduled for Nov. 1st.. (U.S. v. Duke Energy)

In June of last year, and again in March of this year, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals considered essentially the same matters, although maybe on a much broader scale, necessitating its being considered in two parts, in New York v. EPA. That case has been cited as clarifying and, in fact, was referenced in Cinergy above. (June decision; March follow-up)


Docket Sheet, Duke Energy Supreme Court case

Additional Information on EPA’s website (i.e., “Clean Air Act,” and “Air Pollution & Control”)