Media Coverage
Source: Law360
Media Coverage
08.23.13
The Third Circuit reversed a lower court ruling that dismissed a class action by property owners alleging that GenOn Power Midwest LP’s operation in Springdale, Pennsylvania caused property damage, the inhalation of odors and the deposit of coal dust. The court found that the Clean Air Act does not bar state law pollution claims brought by property owners.
According to Mike McDonough, an environmental partner in Pillsbury’s Los Angeles office, the Supreme Court decided not to tackle the question of whether the CAA preempted state common law emissions claims in American Electric Power Co. Inc. v. Connecticut and may not be eager to use the Third Circuit case to revisit the issue.
“I think if this case goes to the Supreme Court, they've got to have in the back of their mind of how this will work in the context of carbon dioxide emissions,” he said. “It could be for that very reason that they deny cert.”
McDonough argued that if the Supreme Court were to review the case, they would instead reexamine the issue of whether nuisance or other sate common laws are acceptable forms of more stringent regulation that is allowed by the CAA.