The D.C. Circuit denied a petition to review FERC's authorization of an owner's request to surrender its license for a hydroelectric project on the Salmon Falls River between New Hampshire and Maine. A conservation group initially requested rehearing of the authorization, arguing the two dams from t...

A district court upheld in part and remanded in part DOI's decision to refrain from holding lease sales of federal land for oil and gas development during the second and third quarters of 2021 and the third and fourth quarters of 2022. Oil and gas industry groups challenged the lack of lease sales f...

The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the U.S. government in a lawsuit concerning a plan to construct a large-scale commercial offshore wind energy facility off of Martha's Vineyard. Several entities associated with the commercial fishing industry challenged the approval process, asserting...

A district court on remand permanently enjoined the Public Utility Commission of Texas from enforcing a 2019 state law that limited the ability to build, own, or operate new transmission lines to owners of existing transmission facilities in Texas, in areas of the state not covered by the main grid ...

The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, denied petitions to review FERC's orders requiring a generator to upgrade its circuit breaker in order for another power source to safely connect to the regional transmission grid and requiring the new source to compensate the generator for direct costs of the upgrade. The gen...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed a petition to review DOE's decision to remove a free-trade restriction on liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. An environmental group challenged the removal, arguing a Texas LNG terminal's increased flexibility to select export countries will cause its actual exports to in...

The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, affirmed summary judgment for BLM in a challenge to the agency's 2003 final rule withdrawing a proposed rule that would have limited the maximum size of "mill sites" for mining claims on federal lands and instead codifying the agency's historical understanding that the governi...

A district court granted BLM's motion to dismiss tribes' and environmental groups' challenge to the Bureau's approval of a 550-mile transmission line route through the San Pedro Valley. Plaintiffs argued BLM violated the National Historic Preservation Act by failing to identify the San Pedro Valley ...

A district court denied policy groups' request to preliminarily enjoin construction of a wind energy project off the coast of Virginia. The groups argued the project should be enjoined until NMFS updates its biological opinion to include an analysis of the cumulative effects of other offshore wind p...

The Seventh Circuit reversed a district court's preliminary injunction prohibiting approval of a proposed land exchange in Wisconsin for construction of a high-voltage electric transmission line that would run through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The appellate court...