The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, denied electric utility companies' challenge to FERC's order granting a solar company's application for certification of its solar array and battery storage facility in Montana as a qualifying facility under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). The companies arg...
A district court granted summary judgment for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in a challenge to its long-term contracts with local power companies. Conservation groups argued that the 20-year contracts, which contained automatic renewal provisions and flexibility provisions allowing the compani...
A district court upheld BLM's approval of a proposed lithium mine project in Nevada. Environmental groups, ranchers, and tribes argued the project would cause unnecessary and undue degradation to the local sage-grouse population and habitat, groundwater aquifers, and air quality in violation of FLPM...
The Fifth Circuit ordered FERC to provide a meaningful explanation for the length of time it takes for final action in Federal Power Act §206 complaint proceedings, in a lawsuit concerning complaints that have gone four to six years without resolution. The Louisiana Public Service Commission petiti...
A district court granted a company's motion to preliminarily enjoin a Louisiana parish from enforcing a 12-month moratorium on activities related to well drilling on parish land. The company moved for an injunction prohibiting enforcement of the moratorium insofar as it banned seismic surveys, Class...
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a Native American tribe's motion to remand to state court, and the dismissal of, its challenge to the city of Seattle's operation of a dam on the Skagit River. The tribe initially sued Seattle in state court, alleging that operation of the dam ...
The D.C. Circuit vacated a license issued by FERC for operation of a hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River in Maryland. The state of Maryland issued a CWA §401(a)(1) certification to the dam's operator in 2018 with conditions. The operator challenged the certification, and the parties reached ...
The D.C. Circuit, 2-1, remanded to FERC a 2018 decision to give all transmission owners unilateral authority to fund power line upgrades in the Midwest. The Commission had initially only allowed direct transmission owners to decide between the generators paying for the line upgrades upfront, or payi...
The D.C. Circuit dismissed a petition to review NRC's decision to issue an amended materials license authorizing uranium production for a DOE demonstration program at a facility in Ohio. Nonprofit groups argued NRC violated NEPA by failing to prepare an EIS and by failing to address the environmenta...
The Third Circuit affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Delaware River Basin Commission's ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing in the Delaware River Basin. Pennsylvania state senators, a state caucus, and several municipalities argued the Commission exceeded its authority under the Delaware Ri...