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Air

Experience Highlights

  • Obtained dismissal by trial court of Clean Air Act enforcement action against a former owner of a coal-fired power plant seeking extensive injunctive relief; Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal in unanimous 68-page opinion

  • Representing a client in an EPA enforcement action alleging violations of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review (NSR) requirements and exceedences of air emissions limits

  • Counsel to lead petitioner group in DC Circuit challenges and Supreme Court petitions to EPA initiative to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the CAA

  • Defended a large integrated refinery and chemical plant against Clean Air Act citizen suit enforcement litigation

  • Defeated challenges to air permits for a coal-fired power plant, obtaining precedentially-important vindication of Texas Commission on Environmental Quality policies by the Texas Court of Appeals

  • Obtained air permits for surface facilities associated with controversial proposed hazardous waste injection facilities 

    • Obtained air permits for entity seeking authorization to construct surface disposal facility for industrial waste in sensitive community 

      • Defended an enforcement case brought by a state agency against a natural gas treatment facility alleging longstanding periods of excess emissions, yielding complete dismissal of claims 

        • Obtained PSD permit for locally opposed gas-fired power project through contested case proceedings, the conclusion of which allowed our client to enter into a collaborative settlement with former opposition

          • Defended a federal CAA citizen suit against a coal-fired power plant before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit alleging violations of Maximum Achievable Control Technology requirements 

          • Obtained dismissal of a case against a coal-fired utility alleging that it contributed to global warming and was, therefore, liable for damages, including impacts to a coastal village in Alaska 

            • Assisted a client in developing legislation to authorize cross-border, cross-pollutant emission trading; obtained governmental approval of the first trade under those rules 

              • Negotiated the first-ever multi-party emissions trade with the area emission credit organization in Texas 

                • Defended a nationwide enforcement action brought by the EPA to enforce rules governing industrial use of chlorofluorocarbons 

                  • Defended a civil action brought by a state agency against a gas-fired electric generating unit, leading to a favorable mediated settlement 

                  • Defended an enforcement case brought by a state agency against an upstream oil gathering facility alleging violations based on fenceline infrared monitoring, yielding complete dismissal of claims

                  • Obtained Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacatur of EPA’s rule denying approval of important elements of Texas’ air permitting program