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Federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Exxon for the third time and upheld a record $14.25 million civil penalty in one of the longest-running environmental enforcement suits ever brought under the federal Clean Air Act.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rules that the Trump administration unlawfully auctioned off millions of acres to oil companies in two 2018 Gulf of Mexico lease sales. Reversing a lower court’s decision, the appellate court held that the federal officials arbitrarily relied on inadequate environmental analyses of the sales’ effects and relied on incorrect assumptions about the sufficiency of safety regulations, violating a bedrock environmental law.

In light of PennDOT’s plan to begin construction during active lawsuit, Earthjustice and clients ask court for a motion for preliminary injunction calling for a pause.

This case challenges the U.S. EPA to review and revise regulations that are inadequate to protect human health and the environment from the unsafe disposal of coal combustion residuals.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed in a consent decree to review and determine whether to update pollution limits for Group I Polymers and Resins facilities — certain synthetic rubber manufacturing facilities that emit cancer-causing air pollutants and other air toxics. The decision stems from an Earthjustice lawsuit filed on behalf of Concerned Citizens of St. John, Louisiana Environmental Action Network, and Sierra Club in November of 2021. A federal court in Washington, D.C. entered a consent decree requiring EPA to perform overdue rulemakings for Group I Polymers and Resins facilities. EPA must issue a proposed rule with potentially updated pollution limits by March of 2023 and a final rule by March of 2024. [Case 1:20-cv-03119-TNM, authored by Hon. Trevor N. McFadden]

A lawsuit challenging Emerald House’s Peregrine exploration program in Alaska’s Western Arctic.

Joint letter to EPA Administrator Regan calling for stronger coal ash rules.

A federal judge in Montana District Court has reinstated a moratorium on new coal leasing on public lands.

Three separate legal documents:
1. Initial Opening Brief of Petitioners Newburgh Clean Water Project, NAACP, Sierra Club, United Parents Against Lead, and Natural Resources Defense Council, represented by Earthjustice.
2. Standing Addendum of Petitioners Newburgh Clean Water Project, NAACP, Sierra Club, United Parents Against Lead, and Natural Resources Defense Council, represented by Earthjustice.
3. Initial Opening Brief of State Petitioners

Parties ask the Court to extend the litigation stay through August 31, 2023.

A press release from U.S. federal agencies committing to take action on Columbia River Basin fisheries.

Commitments outlined by the U.S. government supporting development of a durable long-term strategy to restore salmon and other native fish populations to healthy and abundant levels, honoring Federal commitments to Tribal Nations, delivering affordable and reliable clean power, and meeting the many resilience needs of stakeholders across the Columbia River Basin region.

East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, Ironbound Community Corporation, and Sierra Club petition this Court for a writ of mandamus requiring the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Michael S. Regan, in his official capacity as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to promulgate a rule updating its emission standards for large municipal solid waste incinerators.

200 organizations voice strong opposition to S.J. Res. 55, a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA).

The University of Florida conducted a municipal solid waste garbage waste composition study of two Miami-Dade County waste streams, garbage, and trash.

Defendant County of Kauaʻi has been violating, and continues to violate, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act by discharging drainage waters contaminated with sediment and other pollutants from the Kīkīaola Harbor Drain — an unlined, earthen ditch located on West Kauaʻi’s Mānā Plain that the County owns, operates, and maintains — into the Pacific Ocean — without the required National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit. Filed July 14, 2022.

Earthjustice is representing Nā Kia‘i Kai and the Surfrider Foundation in a lawsuit against the County of Kauaʻi and State Health Department for violating the Clean Water Act by by discharging drainage waters contaminated with sediment and other pollutants from the Kīkīaola Harbor Drain into the Pacific Ocean without the required permit.

Earthjustice and partner organizations sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Public Works in support of the Public Health Air Quality Act of 2022. The bill would make significant investments in our nation’s air quality monitoring infrastructure and give fenceline communities improved access to information on their local air quality and what pollutants are being emitted by industrial sources into their neighborhoods.