A Pennsylvania court severed in part and struck down in part certain provisions of Act 13, pertaining to oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court left undisturbed in its December 2013 decision invalidating portions of the law on constitutional grounds. On re...

The Iowa Supreme Court held that a solar energy company is not a public utility under state law. The case arose after a city sought to enter into a prospective purchaser agreement with the company to supply a portion of the city's electricity needs at certain city premises. On the company's petition...

The D.C. Circuit held that an American corporation owned by Chinese nationals was deprived of its constitutionally protected property interests without due process of law when President Obama issued an order blocking on national security grounds the corporation's windfarm project located near a U.S....

A district court held that BLM complied with NEPA when it issued a programmatic EIS for utility-scale solar energy projects in six southwestern states. Environmental groups filed suit under NEPA, claiming that BLM failed to consider reasonable alternatives to utility-scale solar energy development o...

The D.C. Circuit held that it lacks jurisdiction over petitions for review of a FERC order granting a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction of a natural gas pipeline connecting New York and New Jersey. Environmental groups sought review, claiming that FERC violated NEP...

A district court held that a doctor lacks standing to challenge a Pennsylvania law that prohibits doctors from disclosing the mixture of chemical fluids used during hydraulic fracturing when treating patients for chemical exposure. Doctors have a professional and ethical obligation to communicate cr...

New York's highest court held that local governments may ban oil and gas production activities, including hydraulic fracturing, through the adoption of local zoning laws. The case arose after two towns enacted zoning laws banning hydraulic fracturing within their jurisdictions. A private gas company...

The Seventh Circuit, for the second time, vacated a FERC order that allocates costs for certain new high-voltage network transmission lines in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest. The order allocates the costs of the lines across all the utilities in proportion to each utility’s respective sales. But the...

The Supreme Court of Texas held that an oil and gas company may use a road on landowner's property to access its underground mineral rights. The company held an interest oil and gas rights under the landowners' property in addition to several adjoining tracts. In 2000, it pooled the tracts, thereby ...

The D.C. Circuit held that FERC violated NEPA when it approved the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in the Northeast. The project will upgrade a portion of a much longer natural gas pipeline known as the 300 Line. An environmental group challenged the approval, arguing that FERC violated NEPA whe...