State AG Database – District of Columbia

The following is a list of major actions taken by the District of Columbia Attorney General to ensure that environmental laws are fully implemented and enforced:

• Lawsuits v. Federal Government

• Lawsuits v. Private Actors

• Defense of Federal Standards

• Other Interventions

Lawsuits v. Federal Government

American Farm Bureau Federation v. EPA (D.C. Cir. 2009): Multi-state lawsuit challenging the adequacy of EPA’s 2006 revision to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) regulating soot pollution under the Clean Air Act.

Massachusetts v. EPA (2007): Multi-state challenge to EPA denial of petition to regulate GHGs from motor vehicles under CAA.

New York v. EPA (D.C. Cir. 2006): Multi-state Challenge to 2002 EPA rules modifying maintenance exceptions to New Source Review.

New York v. U.S. EPA (D.C. Cir. 2005): Multi-state challenge to 2002 EPA rule creating and modifying standards for the New Source Review process.

Lawsuits v. Private Actors

Settlement with Volkswagen for Emissions Defeat Devices (2016): Settlement of consumer protection claims raised by a multi-state coalition of state attorneys general against Volkswagen for selling vehicles equipped with “defeat device” software intended to circumvent emissions standards and concealing this software from regulators and the public.

Settlement, Connecticut v. Hyundai Motor Co. (Conn. Super. Ct. 2016): Multi-state settlement of consumer-protection claims against car manufacturers that overstated their vehicles’ fuel efficiency.

Defense of Federal Standards

Michigan v. EPA (2015): Fifteen states intervened in lawsuit to defend EPA standards regulating mercury and other air pollutants from the power sector.

North Dakota v. United States Environmental Protection Agency (D.C. Cir. 2015): Eighteen states filed amicus brief in support of EPA in litigation challenging New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) regulating carbon dioxide emission from new and modified power plants

EPA v. EME Homer City Generation (2014): Ten states intervened in lawsuit to support EPA rule on cross-state air pollution against state and industry challenge.

Other Interventions

Green 20 State AG Coalition (2016): Group of 17 State AGs and Former Vice President Al Gore announced a coalition of states committed to taking creative steps to combat climate change, including investigations into fossil fuel companies and climate-related disclosures.