Board of Commissioners of the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority v. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co.
A district court dismissed a flood protection board's lawsuit against 88 oil and gas companies for damages stemming from coastal erosion along a "buffer zone" in southeast Louisiana. The companies do not owe a legal duty to the board, arising under either Louisiana law or the Rivers and Harbors Act,...
Environmental Processing Systems, L.C. v. FPL Farming, Ltd.
The Texas Supreme Court reinstated a jury verdict in favor of a waste disposal facility in a trespass case filed against it by a neighboring rice farm. At trial, the farm argued that deep subsurface wastewater from the facility trespassed beneath its property, but the jury returned a verdict in the ...
RENEW Wisconsin v. Public Service Comm'n of Wisconsin
A Wisconsin court remanded to the state utility commission two components of a 2013 order involving the state's distributed generation tariff for customer-owned generation, i.e., net metering customers. The tariff applies to customers who self-generate energy and compensates them for energy injected...
State ex rel. Morrison v. Beck Energy Corp.
The Ohio Supreme Court held that a city may not restrict oil and gas drilling within its borders. The city sought to enforce five local ordinances limiting drilling within its borders after an energy company had already obtained the necessary state permits. The ordinances, however, conflict with sta...
Commonwealth v. Spangler
A Pennsylvania court affirmed a lower court order granting the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment's (PaDEP's) petition to investigate, remediate, and clean up contamination on private property under the Pennsylvania Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act (HSCA). The property became contaminated after a...
Morristown Assocs. v. Grant Oil Co.
The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the general six-year statute of limitations for injury to real property does not apply to private claims for contribution made pursuant to the New Jersey Spill Compensation and Control Act (Spill Act). The case arose after a commercial property owner sought to ...
United States v. Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co.
A district court dismissed EPA's lawsuit against an Oklahoma utility under the CAA alleging that it failed to properly project whether modifications made to two coal-fired power plants would result in an increase in emissions. The plants were constructed before Congress enacted the PSD program. As a...