The D.C. Circuit dismissed as untimely a U.S. biofuel trade group’s lawsuit challenging EPA's decision to allow a group of Argentine biofuel producers to use certain recordkeeping practices in connection with sales of their product in the United States, and challenging the 2010 rule under which th...

A Pennsylvania court preliminarily enjoined the commonwealth from enforcing certain Marcellus Shale drilling regulations pending the outcome of an industry group's lawsuit. The group alleged that the regulations were unreasonable, violated state law, were void for vagueness, and that the government ...

The Tenth Circuit upheld a lower court decision denying environmental group's request to preliminarily enjoin the drilling of certain oil and gas wells in the Mancos Shale formation of the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. The groups filed a lawsuit under NEPA challenging 260 drilling permits in the Man...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed Connecticut's and a citizen group's lawsuit against FERC in which they alleged that the agency failed to ensure that the 2014 wholesale electricity capacity rates in New England were just and reasonable. Due to insufficient competition, the 2014 "forward-capacity market" a...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional portions of a 2012 law governing oil and gas operations in the Marcellus Shale. This is the second time the law, known as Act 13, has been reviewed by the court: in 2013, the court struck down provisions that limited the zoning powers of...

The D.C. Circuit granted a refining company's petition challenging FERC's methodology for determining payments to oil companies that use the Trans Alaska Pipeline System to transport oil in a commingled stream. Absent monetary adjustments to compensate for the difference in quality between inputs an...

A district court held that BLM failed to take a "hard look" at the environmental impact of hydraulic fracturing with regard to the agency's resource management plan (RMP) for public lands in California's central region. Under the resource management plan, 25% of new wells are expected to use hydraul...

The Seventh Circuit denied petitions for review challenging two DOE rules aimed at improving the energy efficiency of commercial refrigeration equipment. The first rule adopted new energy efficiency standards for commercial refrigeration equipment, and the second rule, issued a month later, clarifie...

The D.C. Circuit held that FWS violated NEPA when it issued an incidental take permit for the Indiana bat, an endangered species, in connection with a wind farm project in Ohio. Because the farm may pose a danger to the bat, the developer applied for an incidental take permit and submitted a conserv...

The D.C. Circuit dismissed an environmental group's petition challenging FERC's authorization of an increase in production capacity at a liquefied natural gas terminal in Louisiana. The group argued that FERC failed to consider certain environmental consequences of its authorization in violation of ...