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Environmental, Energy and Climate Change Law & Regulation Reporter

May 2015

May 2015

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS

EPA Enters into Consent Decree with the Sierra Club Which Will Lead to the Approval or Disapproval of 24 State Clean Air Act Implementation

Plans147

California State Water Resources Control Board Adopts Nation’s First Statewide Plan to Address Trash in All State Water Bodies148

PENALTIES AND SANCTIONS

Recent Investigations, Settlements, Penalties and Sanctions151

RECENT FEDERAL DECISIONS

Circuit Court of Appeals:

Ninth Circuit Widens Circuit Split in Broadening Judges’ Discretion to Allocate Settlement Payments in CERCLA Cases155

AmeriPride Services, Inc. v. Texas Eastern Overseas, ___F.3d___, Case No. 12-17245 (9th Cir. Apr. 2, 2015).

Eleventh Circuit Directs Army Corps of Engineers to Reevaluate Clean Water Act General Permit for Coal Mining Operations157

Black Warrior Riverkeeper v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, ___F.3d___, Case No. 14-12357 (11th Cir. Mar. 23, 2015).

Fourth Circuit Split Panel Affirms Summary Judgment in CERCLA Arranger Case159

Consolidation Coal Co. v. Georgia Power Co., ___F.3d___, Case No. 13-1603 (4th Cir. Mar. 20, 2015).

Ninth Circuit Allows EPA to Approve Alternative Pollution Controls under the Clean Air Act Despite Subsequently Strengthened Standards160

National Resources Defense Council, et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., ___F.3d___, Case No. 13-70544 (9th Cir. Mar. 11, 2015).

District Court:

District Court Holds a State Retains Discretion under the Clean Water Act to Enact and Enforce a Method of Identifying Impaired Waters162

Florida Wildlife Federation v. Gina McCarthy, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 8:13-cv-2084-T-23 (M.D. FL. Mar. 16, 2015).

District Court Finds Property Owner’s Claim for PCB Exposure Time Barred Based on Notice of the Contamination for Almost Two Decades164

Hubbard-Hall, Inc. v. Monsanto Company et al., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 3:13-cv-104 (D. Conn. Mar. 29, 2015).

District Court Rules that Alabama Is Entitled to a Jury Trial on Its Claims under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 Arising from the BP Oil Spill165

In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig ‘Deepwater Horizon’ in the Gulf of Mexico, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 2179 (E.D. La. 2015).

District Court Finds Aerial Emissions of Hazardous Particulate Matter May Constitute a Disposal of Solid Waste under RCRA167

Little Hocking Water Association, Inc. v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co., ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 2:09-CV-1081 (S.D. Ohio Mar. 10, 2015).

District Court Finds CERCLA Cost Recovery Claims Were Precluded by Section 113 Contribution Claims, which Were Time Barred169

LWD PRP Group v. ACF Industries LLC, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 5:12-CV-00127 (W.D. Ky. Mar. 12, 2015).

District Court Finds Pennsylvania’s Sewage Facilities Act Does Not Trigger EPA’s Mandatory Review as a Revised or New Water Quality Standard Pursuant to the Clean Water Act171

The Pine Creek Valley Watershed Association, et al. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ___F.Supp.3d___, Case No. 14-478 (E.D. Penn. Mar. 17, 2015).

RECENT STATE DECISIONS