The Hawaii Supreme Court held that the “right to a clean and healthful environment” as set forth in the Hawaii Constitution gives citizens the right to be heard and protect their environmental interests in cases before the state Public Utilities Commission. A Hawaiian electric company sought the...

A district court held that the California Public Utilities Commission's tariff program for small renewables, known as the Renewable Market Adjusting Tariff (Re-MAT), violates the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). A solar company challenged the Re-MAT program, arguing that the t...

The California Supreme Court held that the charges a California city must pay to a local water district for groundwater conservation activities do not require voter or property owner approval. By statute, charges for pumping groundwater for nonagricultural uses generally must be at least three times...

The Ninth Circuit upheld a lower court's dismissal of a tribe's NEPA challenge to a DOI guidance that did not consider its interest when allocating the water rights of the Colorado River. The tribe contended that it was unlawfully excluded from DOI 2001 and 2008 guidances that outlined how water is ...