Adobe Whitewater Club of New Mexico v. New Mexico State Game Commission
The New Mexico Supreme Court overturned regulations promulgated by the State Game Commission in 2017 that outlined a process for landowners to obtain a certificate allowing them to close public access to segments of public water flowing over private property. Outdoor recreation advocates challenged ...
NextEra Energy Capital Holdings, Inc. v. Lake
The Fifth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit concerning a 2019 Texas law that allows only owners of existing transmission lines in the state to build, own, or operate new lines that connect to existing lines. A company seeking to enter the state...
Hoboken v. Chevron Corp.
The Third Circuit affirmed two district courts' orders remanding back to start court two climate liability suits bought against oil companies. Delaware and the city of Hoboken sued the companies in state court for state-law torts. The companies removed the suits to federal court, arguing removal was...
National Wildlife Refuge Ass'n v. Rural Utilities Service
A district court denied a request by conservation groups to halt all construction on a transmission line project from Iowa to Wisconsin pending the transmission companies' appeal of a prior order enjoining construction of a section of the line across the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and...
California State Water Resources Control Board v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Ninth Circuit vacated FERC orders that held the California Water Resources Control Board had waived its authority to ensure certain hydroelectric projects complied with state water quality standards. The Board and environmental groups petitioned the court to review FERC's findings that the Board...
Honolulu, City & County of v. Sunoco LP
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order remanding to state court two climate liability suits against numerous oil and gas companies. The city and county of Honolulu and the county of Maui sued in state court, arguing the companies knew about climate change, understood the harms that energy...
West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Supreme Court held, 6-3, that President Barack Obama's EPA had exceeded its statutory authority under §111(d) of the CAA when it promulgated the Clean Power Plan to address carbon dioxide pollution from existing power plants. States and coal companies had petitioned for review of the plan,...
Diamond Natural Resources Protection & Conservation Ass'n v. Diamond Valley Ranch, LLC
The Nevada Supreme Court held, 4-3, that the state's top water official had authority to approve a groundwater management plan (GMP) that deviated from the doctrine of prior appropriation for the over-appropriated Diamond Valley Hydrologic Basin. Senior rights holders in the basin sought to invalida...
Belmont Municipal Light Department v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The D.C. Circuit granted in part and denied in part petitions to review FERC's order approving the Independent System Operator for New England's (ISO-NE's) tariff revisions that compensated power plants for maintaining up to three days' worth of fuel on-site to generate electricity during winter mon...