The Tenth Circuit upheld on constitutional grounds Colorado's mandate that 20% of the electricity that generators sell to Colorado consumers come from renewable sources. A conservative energy group claimed that the renewable energy standard will harm out-of-state coal producers in violation of the C...

A Colorado court upheld a city's decision to create a local electric utility. An electric company argued that the city council exceeded its authority when it created the utility. But the company missed the 28-day deadline for challenging quasi-judicial decisions. When the city declared that the cond...

The Supreme Court of Oklahoma held that a woman injured in a 2011 earthquake may go forward with her suit against two energy companies for allegedly causing the quake due to hydraulic fracturing operations. A lower court dismissed the case, concluding that the Oklahoma Corporation Commission has exc...

The U.S. Supreme Court held that a USDA marketing order under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 requiring raisin producers to participate in a raisin reserve program violates the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against taking property without just compensation. Under the marketing order...

The First Circuit reversed a lower court decision dismissing a lawsuit concerning a proposed offshore wind power generation facility in Nantucket Sound. Opponents of the facility—a town, an advocacy group, and several individuals and businesses in the area—sought to nullify the state's approval ...

A North Carolina court issued a preliminary injunction barring the state Mining and Energy Commission from accepting or processing any hydraulic fracturing applications until the state Supreme Court issues its opinion in a similar case concerning the constitutionality of the Commission's appointment...

The Federal Circuit upheld a lower court decision dismissing on jurisdictional grounds a landowner's Fifth Amendment takings claim against the government in connection with a CWA permit denial. The lower court held that the complaint was barred by 28 U.S.C. §1500, which prohibits the U.S. Court of ...

The Supreme Court of Texas held that courts may consider all relevant circumstantial evidence when granting or denying an expedited motion to dismiss suits that could stifle a defendant's communication on matters of public concern under the Texas Citizens Participation Act (TCPA). The case arose aft...

The Federal Claims Court held that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' construction, expansions, operation, and failure to maintain the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) caused subsequent storm surge that was exacerbated by a "funnel effect" during Hurricane Katrina and subsequent hurricanes and s...