Public Citizen v. Texas Commission on Environmental Quality

Public Citizen asked the appellate court to dismiss as moot the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ's) appeal of the district court's denial of its plea to the jurisdiction. Public Citizen said a controversy had ceased to exist once the United States Environmental Protection Agency took action to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from new sources in Texas. Alternatively, Public Citizen said it wished to dismiss its claims without prejudice. TCEQ opposed the motion.

A Texas environmental group filed a lawsuit seeking to force the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to regulate greenhouse gases when it approved new coal-fired power plants and other facilities in the state. The group alleged that existing Commission rules unlawfully eliminated all opportunity for people facing significant harm to present facts about climate change in permit proceedings on coal- and petroleum coke-fired power plants. The group sought a judgment declaring Commission rules invalid under the federal Clean Air Act and the Texas Clean Air Act.