The D.C. Circuit vacated FERC's refusal to allow a natural gas pipeline company to impose incremental-plus rates to cover the costs of an expansion project. The company argued that FERC should have approved the incremental-plus rates and that its failure to do so was arbitrary and capricious. The co...
The Kansas Supreme Court held unlawful a rate design approved by the Kansas Corporation Commission under which utilities charged residential customers generating their own electricity from a renewable source (DG customers) a higher price than they charged non-DG customers. The utilities argued that ...
In an unpublished opinion, a California appellate court affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources' issuance of 213 permits to drill new oil wells in a California oil field. Environmental groups argued the Division failed to comply with the California Env...
A California appellate court affirmed dismissal of a challenge to the South Coast Air Quality Management District's determination that an oil refinery project would reduce air pollution. An environmental group first argued the environmental impact report (EIR) was inadequate under the California Env...
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit held that the U.S. Forest Service's decision not to prepare an EIS for a tree-thinning project in Mount Hood National Forest was arbitrary and capricious. A district court concluded that the Service's decision was lawful and thus granted summary judgment ...
A district court denied summary judgment to environmental groups in a challenge to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of permits for construction of a crude oil pipeline across the Atchafalaya Basin. The groups argued that the Corps violated NEPA by failing to take a hard look at the risk of...
A district court denied summary judgment to an environmental group in a challenge to the USDA Farm Service Agency's (FSA's) EA for a loan guarantee to construct and operate a poultry concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in Maryland. The group first argued that FSA violated NEPA by improperly...