Description: Challenge to oil terminal operators’ failure to obtain PSD permit.
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Northwest Environmental Defense Center v. Cascade Kelly Holdings LLC, d/b/a Columbia Pacific Biorefinery
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 12/30/2015 Opinion and Order Download Ruling for defendants. In Citizen Suit Against Oregon Crude Oil Facility Operator, District Court Found No Clean Air Act Violation. The federal district court for the District of Oregon found that citizen suit defendants who constructed a crude oil transloading terminal in Catskanie, Oregon, had not violated the Clean Air Act. Three environmental organizations had alleged that the terminal’s operation would result in emissions of air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, greenhouse gases, and hazardous air pollutants, and that the defendants should have obtained a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit. The court found that the plaintiffs had not proven by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendants miscalculated the terminal’s potential to emit and that the terminal’s emissions would exceed the threshold for obtaining a PSD permit. 07/02/2014 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Three environmental organizations commenced a citizen suit under the Clean Air Act against the operators of an oil terminal on the Columbia River in Oregon. Plaintiffs alleged that operation of the terminal resulted in emissions of air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, greenhouse gases, and hazardous air pollutants. They claimed that the operators should have obtained a Prevention of Significant Deterioration for the project. They sought declaratory and injunctive relief, and also penalties.