The Supreme Court of Colorado held that state law preempts a city's ban on hydraulic fracturing and waste disposal within city limits. The Colorado Constitution recognizes the sovereignty of "home rule cities," meaning that in matters of local concern, a home-rule ordinance supersedes a conflicting ...
The D.C. Circuit denied an environmental group's petition challenging NRC's decision not to allow the group to intervene in the license renewal proceeding for a nuclear power station located 35 miles outside of Philadelphia. The group sought to present "new and significant" information regarding sev...
A Florida appellate court reversed and remanded the state siting board's decision to permit a power company to construct and operate two new nuclear generating units and to install miles of new transmission lines in and near the East Everglades. The board failed to consider local regulations, as req...
The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Power Act (FPA) preempts a Maryland program intended to encourage in-state power generation. Maryland selected, through a proposal process, a power generation development company to construct a new power plant. The program requires electric utilities to e...
The Ninth Circuit dismissed an environmental group's appeal of a preliminary injunction that barred it from interfering with oil exploration activities in the Chukchi Sea. The group challenged the injunction on several jurisdictional bases, as well as on the merits. But the injunction has expired an...
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld FERC's "demand-response" rule under which operators of wholesale electricity markets, in specified circumstances, must pay the same price to providers for conserving energy as to generators for producing it. During peak periods, electricity rates increase dramatically, ...
A Pennsylvania court upheld an environmental hearing board order dismissing a municipal authority's challenge to a gas drilling permit that the Department of Environmental Protection issued to an oil and gas exploration company. The authority argued that the permitted drilling will result in violati...
A New York appellate court upheld a lower court decision invalidating a water sales agreement that would have allowed a town to sell approximately one million gallons per day from its water supply to an energy company for drilling and hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. Despite the town's conclusi...
A district court dismissed a lawsuit filed against the State Department in connection with two upgrade projects for a major oil sands pipeline that crosses the U.S-Canada border. One project would replace an existing pipeline segment, and the second would construct an interconnection between two exi...
The D.C. Circuit held that FERC violated the Federal Power Act (FPA) when it issued a preliminary permit for a hydroelectric project in Polk County, Iowa, to a private developer. The case involved FERC's interpretation of FPA §7(a), which grants preferential treatment to state and municipal applica...