JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENTS

June 2008

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District Court Dismisses Labor Organization’s Request for Order Preventing Air District from Issuing Power Plant Permits and to Compel EPA to Issue Endangerment Determination
San Francisco Chapter of A. Philip Randolph Institute, et al., v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., ___F.Supp.2d___

In a decision that has begun to garner attention, a U.S. District Court in California recently threwout claims brought by a labor rights organization against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) and City and County of San Francisco (San Francisco), wherein the plaintiffs sought to compel EPA to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision in Massachusetts v. U.S. EPA, 549 U.S. ___, 127 S. Ct. 1438 (2007), by immediately issuing the endangerment determination ordered by the Supreme Court. Their claims were intended to prevent BAAQMD and San Francisco from moving forward with the permitting and construction of two power plants, until EPA had rendered its endangerment determination and subsequently developed greenhouse gas emission standards for power plants.