(August 2, 2021, 10:23 AM EDT) -- RICHMOND, Va. — The Clean Air Act (CAA) unambiguously waives the federal government’s sovereign immunity regarding all civil penalties assessed pursuant to state air pollution law, including punitive penalties, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals concluded July 29. It partially reversed and remanded a lower court ruling in a dispute between the state of North Carolina and the federal government over payment of an $8,000 fine for violating a permit issued by the state for a federal facility’s coal-fired steam boilers....