The Court of Federal Claims held that a company that funded construction of an open-loop biomass facility to provide steam for a chicken rendering plant's electricity needs is entitled to reimbursement costs under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARAR), but only for costs associated with ...

A Pennsylvania court held that the state legislature acted within its constitutional authority when it gave itself the power to transfer money out of a special account, funded by oil and gas revenue from state lands, that had been set aside for conservation projects; but that the state's Department ...

A district court dismissed an environmental group's NEPA and Wilderness Act lawsuit challenging the U.S. Forest Service's approval of a proposed utility-scale wind farm project in the Green Mountain National Forest in southern Vermont. The groups sought declaratory and injunctive relief to permanent...

The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld state legislation enacted in 2012 that permits major oil pipeline carriers to obtain approval from the governor to exercise the power of eminent domain for building a pipeline—such as the controversial Keystone XL—in Nebraska. A lower court held that the law was...

The North Dakota Supreme Court upheld an administrative law judge's (ALJ's) award of benefits in the death of an oil-tank worker. According to the medical examiner's report, the worker died from hydrocarbon poisoning due to the inhalation of petroleum vapors from oil storage tanks. His employer argu...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court erred in remanding to state court landowners' class action lawsuit seeking compensation for damages they sustained when an energy company allegedly underpaid royalties due under certain oil and gas leases. The lawsuit was originally filed in state co...

The Second Circuit vacated individuals' convictions for making false statements and conspiring to violate CERCLA. The jury instructions stated that because the defendant has an interest in the outcome of the trial, he has a motive to testify falsely and that the jury should bear this in mind when ev...

A district court granted in part and denied in part motions to dismiss property owners' CERCLA contribution claims against a company for contamination stemming from a manufactured gas plant that the company's predecessor operated from the 1830s until the early 1900s. In 2010, some of the property ow...

A district court remanded to state court a Louisiana parish's lawsuit against 19 oil and gas companies for alleged environmental damages stemming from the companies' exploration, production, and transportation activities. The parish claims these operations were conducted in violation of the State an...

An Illinois court denied residents' motion to preliminarily enjoin the state's proposed hydraulic fracturing rules from going into effect. Illinois' environmental agency promulgated the rules under the state Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act on November 14, 2014, but they will not go into effect u...