Most large facilities in the power generation and manufacturing sector cannot be built, expanded or operated without Clean Air Act permits. For those who oppose new or expanded industrial facilities, legal challenges to those permits are often the focal point of their efforts to kill a project. Thus, obtaining Clean Air Act permits and defending them against vigorous legal challenges is essential for the growth of industry.

Sidley has extensive experience with matters involving the Clean Air Act’s Title V and New Source Review (NSR)/Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting programs. Our team includes:

• A former Chief of the Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) Environmental Enforcement Section (EES), who was responsible for the Department of Justice’s prosecution of hundreds of Clean Air Act cases, including a number of precedent-setting NSR cases.
• A former Chief of the Stationary Source Air Enforcement Branch at Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Headquarters, who managed the development of Clean Air Act enforcement cases and policy and worked closely with the Office of Air and Radiation on Clean Air Act regulations, permitting applicability determinations and guidance.
• A former Assistant Section Chief from ENRD’s appellate section who has argued more than 200 appellate cases and briefed hundreds of others.
• Three former ENRD EES trial attorneys who litigated several complex Clean Air Act permitting cases during nearly decade-long tenures.

With more than 40 experienced litigators and regulatory compliance professionals, our team helps companies from various industries work with state and federal agencies to obtain the Clean Air Act permits they need with terms that can allow a new or expanded industrial facility to thrive. Once our clients have obtained these permits, we work to protect them from legal challenges before state administrative bodies, state and federal trial courts and on appeal. We are continuously involved with our clients in defending lawsuits claiming violations of their Clean Air Act permits or demonstrating that an NSR or PSD permit was never required.