A Colorado court held that the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act preempts a city's ban on all oil and gas extraction and related activities within the city's boundaries. The court held that the operational conflict in this case was "obvious and patent" on its face. There is no way to harmonize t...

A Pennsylvania court vacated and reversed a town's decision to issue a special use permit allowing an energy company to construct and operate an unconventional natural gas well pad near landowners' private property. The landowners presented substantial evidence that there is a high degree of probabi...

The Fifth Circuit upheld a Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) rule that effectively prohibits a wind energy company from forming "legally enforceable obligations" when selling power to public utilities. The Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) seeks to promote the purchase o...

The Seventh Circuit dismissed an environmental group's lawsuit challenging EPA's decision not to object to Wisconsin's renewal of a Title V permit for a pre-1975 paper mill. Under the CAA's PSD program, emissions from pre-1975 sources count as part of the emissions baseline and not toward the overal...