A district court dismissed a lawsuit brought by Catholic nuns seeking monetary damages for property taken by the Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline. The nuns argued that construction and operation of the pipeline through land they owned would violate their free exercise of religion protected by t...
A state appellate court upheld the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's (MPUC's) approval of affiliated-interest agreements for construction and operation of a natural gas-fired power plant in Wisconsin. Environmental groups argued substantial evidence did not support MPUC's determinations that t...
A district court denied a water district's motion to intervene in an ESA lawsuit seeking protections for longfin smelt. The water district argued it had standing to intervene because its alleged injury—a reduction in water allocation—was economic, its injury was traceable to plaintiff's claims s...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part petitions to review the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) order regarding the adequacy of the Commission's guidelines for exposure to radiofrequency (RF) radiation. Environmental groups argued the FCC violated the APA by failing to acknowledge evidence of n...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a lawsuit concerning guidance issued by EPA recommending a statistical method for assessing water toxicity. Trade groups argued the Agency violated the APA and the CWA in issuing the guidance. A district court found that the guidance was not final agency actio...
The Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part district court rulings in a collection of lawsuits concerning oil companies' decades of drilling activities along the Louisiana coast. Six Louisiana parishes filed suit in state court, arguing the companies violated the Louisiana State and Loca...
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part a challenge to FERC's orders addressing complaints over the results of a 2015 auction for electrical capacity in Illinois. A public interest group had complained the auction had resulted in electricity rates that were unjust and unreasonable, that ...
A district court denied a pipeline company's motion to dismiss a challenge to President Trump's issuance of a permit for construction of a cross-border segment of the Keystone XL oil pipeline. Environmental groups had argued the president's issuance of the permit violated the Property Clause, the Co...
The Ninth Circuit upheld FERC's denial of an environmental group's motion to intervene in post-licensing deadline extension proceedings for a hydroelectric project in California. The group had argued that FERC violated Rule 214 of the Commission's regulations in denying intervention and §6 of the F...