On May 25, 2012, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Sierra Club, et al. v. Korleski in which the court determined that the Clean Air Act does not authorize citizen suits against the Ohio EPA for alleged violations of emission standards or limitations. The case involved the Sierra Club’s challenge of Ohio EPA’s rules that exempt small sources (those that emit less than ten tons of pollutants per year) from Ohio’s best available technology (BAT) requirement. The Court ruled that the Ohio EPA had not “violated’ an emission standard or limitation and that the only recourse would be a suit against the USEPA for failing to enforce the SIP requirements. A copy of the decision is available here.
