All the time, businesses and state and local lawmakers are pushing for a little bit more leniency—in the very least, some practicality and flexibility—from the Environmental Protection Agency. But, as a recent case shows, when the EPA finally grants it and works with all parties to create a more workable standard, the courts aren’t having it.

To explain what happens and what it could mean going forward is Fred Wagner, formerly Chief Counsel of the Federal Highway Administration and now an attorney at Beveridge & Diamond and author on the firm’s blog, Envirostructure.