Litigation

A federal appellate court has narrowed its landmark decision that vacated an EPA air rule it considered unlawful, rather than allowing it to remain in place while the agency revises it, in a ruling rejecting a Bush administration request to reconsider the case.

The ruling, which backs an industry challenge to an EPA-approved list of alternatives to an ozone-depleting chemical, allows courts to decide whether rejected rules can remain in place while the agency revises them.

A federal appellate court has rejected a broad argument by EPA enforcement agents that could have made it easier for federal and state inspectors to gather wastewater samples at permitted facilities.

Instead, the court granted the agents so-called qualified immunity on narrow, fact-specific grounds to protect them from charges that their wastewater sampling efforts violated the facility and its owner's Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

Environmentalists may use a major, five-year study on causes of air pollution at Texas Big Bend National Park in a possible lawsuit against either the state or EPA aimed at improving visibility at the site. Environmentalists believe litigation may be necessary to get the state to enact regulations aimed at curbing pollution from sources found to affect the park, including power plants.

A successful suit could be duplicated in other states, because the report found emissions from across the country were affecting the park, environmentalists say.