EPA Touts Air Law Litigation Record As High Court GHG Challenge Looms

摘要

EPA air lawyers are touting what they say is a very strong recent record in Clean Air Act litigation before appeals courts, ahead of fresh lawsuits challenging the agency's tougher ozone standards and a suit seeking to block EPA's power plant greenhouse gas (GHG) rules that many predict will be resolved by the Supreme Court. Speaking at an air law conference organized by the American Law Institute-Continuing Legal Education (ALI-CLE) in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, EPA Deputy General Counsel Ethan Shenkman said that EPA by its own terms won 12 of 14 air law suits heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2015. The D.C. Circuit generally hears cases challenging national regulations and "is really the court of last resort for so much of what we do," Shenkman said, calling the agency's relationship with the court "gold."