Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow v. United States Department of the Interior
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...
National Wildlife Refuge Ass'n v. Rural Utilities Service
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...
Nantucket Residents Against Turbines v. U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and NMFS in a challenge to BOEM's approval for construction of a wind power project off the coast of Massachusetts. A group of Nantucket residents argued NMFS violated the ESA by issuing a deficient biologic...
Melone v. Coit
The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment for NMFS in a challenge to the Service's issuance of an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) for construction of a wind power project off the coast of Massachusetts. A part-time Martha's Vineyard resident argued NMFS' determination that the IHA, which...
Tohono O'odham Nation v. United States Department of Interior
A district court denied tribes' and conservation groups' request to preliminarily enjoin construction of a transmission line through the San Pedro Valley in Arizona. The plaintiffs argued BLM violated the National Historic Preservation Act when it authorized construction to begin without assessing t...
PJM Power Providers Group v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Third Circuit granted petitions to review FERC orders allowing the administrator of a 2024/2025 capacity auction to apply a new rule retroactively to a pending action to avoid a spike in electricity prices. Electric suppliers and their trade groups argued the orders violated the filed rate doctr...
Louisiana v. United States Department of Energy
The Fifth Circuit granted several states' petition to review DOE's 2022 rule repealing two 2020 rules concerning efficiency standards for dishwashers and washing machines. The states argued the repeal rule, which deleted the appliance categories for shorter-duration dishwashers and washing machines ...
United States v. Osage Wind, LLC
A district court on remand ordered that a commercial wind farm constructed on Osage Nation land be removed in a challenge brought against the farm's developers. The federal government argued the developers engaged in unauthorized mining and excavation in the Osage mineral estate without first obtain...
PJM Power Providers Group v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Third Circuit denied three petitions for review in a long-running dispute over whether and to what extent state-subsidized energy resources should be subject to price mitigation in interstate capacity auctions. Energy generators and state public utilities commissions challenged FERC's acceptance...