The Ninth Circuit held that California's commercial fishing fees for nonresidents violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the U.S. Constitution. California's commercial fishing license fees are significantly higher for out-of-state fishers than for residents. For example, California residen...

The Ohio Supreme Court held that a local election board exceeded its statutory authority when it refused to certify a city's proposed ballot measure that would, among other things, ban hydraulic fracturing within city limits and create a civil cause of action for damages to be brought in the name of...

A district court upheld FWS' decision to terminate the southern sea otter translocation program off the coast of California. Due to the threatened species' vulnerability to extinction from oil spills, environmental contamination, disease, shooting, and entanglement in fishing gear, FWS began the tra...

A Minnesota appellate court held that the state's public utilities commission will need to prepare an EIS under the Minnesota Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) before it can make a final decision on whether to grant or deny a certificate of need for a large oil pipeline. A pipeline company filed appli...

A Pennsylvania appellate court reversed a lower court order denying an energy company's application to construct and operate a natural gas well on land it has leased from a private landowner. The local board had granted the company a conditional use permit for the well, but the lower court set it as...