Case Updates
Fourth Circuit rejects state regulation of interstate commerce
July 26, 2010
The Fourth Circuit rejected North Carolina's attempt to impose its public nuisance law on interstate conduct regulated by the Clean Air Act. The Fourth Circuit noted that Congress has already created a system for controlling air pollution through the Clean Air Act and held that the injunction “improperly applied home state law extraterritorially.”
U.S. Chamber files amicus brief
August 18, 2009
NCLC urged the Fourth Circuit to reject North Carolina's attempt to impose its public nuisance law on interstate conduct regulated by the Clean Air Act. North Carolina's attorney general filed a suit claiming pollution from out-of-state coal power plants adversely impacts human health and environmental quality in North Carolina. In its brief, NCLC argued that the Clean Air Act has already set up adequate programs for handling interstate air pollution and therefore preempts this lawsuit.