Dive Brief:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has won a suit filed by environmentalist groups calling for the delay on new standards to curb acid rain to be lifted and tougher rules to be put in place. 
• The original suit said that a delay on limits to nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions from utility plants and other sources violated the Clean Air Act. 
• In 2012, the EPA said more time was needed to conduct proper long-term studies on acid rain-causing emissions before it made any rules on where emissions limits should be set. The court said that it deferred judgment on whether or not the EPA could have reached its decision by now to the agency.

Dive Insight: 

This is the latest victory in a string of court rulings favoring the EPA's agenda. 

Legal challenges have come from both environmentalist groups seeking tougher and faster-acting regulations and from industry groups who believe the EPA is overstepping its bounds.

Last month, a legal challenge from utilities was struck down after the court upheld the EPA's new cross-board emissions limits. The decision comes ahead of the new EPA carbon emissions rules for existing power plants to be announced on June 2.