The D.C. Circuit vacated FERC's "demand response" order, which seeks to incentivize retail customers to reduce electricity consumption when economically efficient. The order directs independent system operators to pay electricity users who cut consumption when prices and consumption are high the sam...
A district court held that a conservative nonprofit group lacked standing on four of its six claims challenging Colorado's renewable energy standard (RES), which requires utilities to obtain at least 30% percent of its energy from renewable sources by the year 2020. The group claimed that three disc...
A district court largely upheld several administrative decisions made by federal agencies approving the construction of various aspects of an offshore wind energy project in Nantucket Sound, remanding only two issues to FWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for ESA violations. Four gr...
The Federal Circuit held that the U.S. government did not breach its contract with two oil and gas exploration companies when it imposed new regulatory requirements after their lease went into effect. The companies jointly leased the mineral rights to land on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) from t...
The Supreme Court of Wyoming reversed and remanded a lower court decision affirming the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission's denial of a request for public records documenting the identities of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations in the state. Below, the environmental groups t...
A Maryland appellate court held that a liquid natural gas (LNG) shipping terminal may export natural gas from its facility on the Chesapeake Bay. In 2005, the terminal entered into an agreement with an environmental group that set forth activities that would be authorized or restricted at the site. ...
A Michigan appellate court held that Mich. Admin. Rule 324.102(x), which defines the term “injection well,” does not include wells completed using hydraulic fracturing. Accordingly, "frack" wells are not subject to the environmental regulations applicable to injection wells. For a well to be cat...
A district court held that a Nebraska law passed in 2012 to expedite the approval of a new route for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline through the state is unconstitutional. Article IV, §20, of the Nebraska Constitution commits exclusively to the Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) the au...
A California court dismissed environmental groups' lawsuit against the California Department of Conservation, Division Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) for failing to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act in issuing permits for oil and gas wells that involve hydraulic fractur...
The D.C. Circuit denied petitions for review challenging FAA's determination that a proposed offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound would not pose a hazard to air navigation. Despite petitioners' arguments to the contrary, the FAA's no hazard determinations were consistent with the agency's handbook ...