Ohio EPA Seeks to Escape City’s Ammonia Air Pollution Lawsuit

An Ohio federal judge must block an air pollution lawsuit filed against the state Environmental Protection Agency because the citizen-suit provision of the Clean Air Act bars such lawsuits against regulators, Ohio EPA argues.

Fairborn, Ohio, and Bath Township, Ohio, say the state EPA failed to perform certain duties in connection with permitting and regulating ammonia emissions from a digestate storage tank operated by Dovetail Energy LLC and Renergy Inc. The lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio also names the companies and the federal EPA as defendants.

The digestate storage tank holds solid ...