Constitutional Law › Environmental Law › Energy & Utilities Law

Climate Change Legal Theories: The Atmospheric Public Trust Doctrine Moves Another Step Forward

One of the shibboleths of those following climate change litigation is the idea that new legal theories will be surfaced, fired in the furnace of litigation and then forged as the vehicle for addressing climate change in the...more

Challengers Double Down on Opposition to California’s Carbon Allowance Auctions

A second lawsuit has been filed challenging one of the centerpieces of California’s innovative cap-and-trade climate change regulatory program: the auction process implemented by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to...more

Would a Ban on Fracking Constitute a Takings?

Fracking is all the rage these days, a means of increasing domestic energy production by injecting fluid into cracks that exists in rock formations to open them up and allow oil and gas to flow out and be collected. There is...more

California's Cap and Trade Program Goes to Court Again

The other shoe finally dropped. The much-speculated and much-anticipated “tax vs. fee” AB 32 Cap and Trade lawsuit has finally been filed. A diverse coalition of businesses and trade groups filed a lawsuit in a state superior...more

California Environmental Law and Policy Update - April 11, 2013

Environmental and Policy Focus - ..Court rules CEQA streamlining provision unconstitutional: CourtHouse News - Apr 3 - A section of a California law aimed at streamlining construction projects by moving...more

Federal Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of ESA Fifth Amendment Takings Claim

On February 27, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Fifth Amendment takings claim based on the finding that the claim was "not ripe." The claim is unusual because it arose in...more

Ohio Court: State Oil And Gas Law Pre-Empts Local Drilling Regulations

The nationwide oil and gas boom has exposed a rift in the relationship between state and local governments seeking to regulate shale drilling and development. This tension has been playing out in several key shale states –...more

Alberta First Nations Challenge Constitutionality of Federal Regulatory Reforms

On January 8, 2012, the Mikisew Cree First Nation and the Frog Lake First Nation (the First Nations), both located in Alberta, filed notices of application (the Applications) with the Federal Court seeking judicial review of...more

Hydraulic Fracking – Recent Developments in CA, NY, NJ and PA

For our readers who are keeping tabs on developments in the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) industry, we thought you would be interested in Sedgwick’s latest Hydraulic Fracturing News Flash regarding a recent proposal in...more

High Court Weighs In on Surface Owners’ Appeal Rights

In Martin v. Hamblet, decided November 21, 2012, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals determined that a surface owner may not appeal issuance of a well work permit by the Department of Environmental Protection for a...more

California Cap and Trade to Launch End of the World, Brave New World or Carbon Tax?

Six years after then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as AB 32, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) holds its first auction of emissions allowances on November...more

The Third Climate Change Liability Suit Fights to Stay Alive: Plaintiffs in Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Seek Rehearing

The plaintiffs in the climate change liability suit, Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil, won’t go quietly. Last Thursday, Plaintiffs filed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a petition for rehearing en banc...more

Judge Declares Russian River Frost Protection Regulation Constitutionally Void

On September 26th, 2012, a Mendocino County Superior Court judge declared the Russian River frost protection regulation adopted by the State Water Resources Control Board ("State Water Board") in 2009 to be constitutionally...more

Ninth Circuit Affirms District Court in Kivalina Climate-Change Case

On Friday, September 21, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an important opinion in the developing area of climate-change litigation, affirming the dismissal of a lawsuit that threatened the energy sector with...more

MassDEP Issues Its Decision on the Palmer Bio-mass Facility: Right on the Merits, Wrong on Standing

I finally had an opportunity to review the recent Final Decision in In the Matter of Palmer Renewable Energy, concerning the proposed Palmer biomass facility. Last week, MassDEP Commissioner Ken Kimmell affirmed the...more

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania Strikes Down Zoning and Setback Waiver Provisions Of “Act 13” Oil and Gas Legislation

A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruling has struck down a cornerstone of Act 13, which set forth that municipalities must adopt uniform zoning provisions for the development of natural gas as a prerequisite to the receipt of...more

The Shale Play Today - July 2012

In This Issue: - Pa. Commonwealth Court Strikes Down Act 13 Zoning Provision - D.C. Circuit Court Issues Important Ruling on Greenhouse Gas Regulatory Program by M. Ann Bradley & M. Katherine Crockett - The State...more

A New Paradigm for Aboriginal Consultation in Ontario: What Miners Need to Know

The repeal and re-enactment of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (“CEAA”) and amendments to other federal environmental legislation amounts to the most significant change in federal environmental assessment (“EA”)...more

JWJ Industries, Inc. v. Oswego County

Decision Granting TRO and Preliminary Injunction against County Flow Control Law

The United States District Court in Syracuse has issued a preliminary injunction against Oswego County to prohibit it from enforcing the 2011 Flow Control Law against JWJ Industries, Inc. and Jeff Holbook. The Court...more

Township Solicitor Asks Court to Take Initiative Banning Drilling off the Ballot

Voters in Pennsylvania's Peters Township will never see a referendum banning oil and gas drilling if a Common Pleas judge sides with the township solicitor and blocks the question from appearing on the November...more

Arizona Supreme Court Denies Goldwater Institute's Appeal in Lawsuit Over REST Rules

Without comment, the Arizona Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear an appeal of the Court of Appeals' decision in the legal battle over the state's Renewable Energy Standard and Tariff (REST) rules. The appeal was sought...more

Rural Water Sewer & Solid Waste Management v. City of Guthrie

Opinion on Spending Clause challenge to 1926(b) protection

On July 25, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued its decision in the Guthrie appeal. This decision applied the Oklahoma Supreme Court's June 29, 2010 decision on certified questions. In doing so, the...more

Supreme Court Holds Federal Courts Do Not Have Jurisdiction to Hear Federal Common Law Nuisance Claims Relating to Greenhouse Gas...

The United States Supreme Court, in an 8–0 decision (Justice Sotomayor did not participate) written by Justice Ginsburg, ruled on June 20, 2011 that federal common law nuisance claims are not available as a means to impose...more

Supreme Court Decides Global Warming Case

In the third of our trilogy this week, let's take a look at the Supreme Court's decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, No. 10-174 (U.S. 6/20/11). Readers may recall from our previous posts that in 2004,...more

Supreme Court Rejects States’ Nuisance Claims But Leaves Door Open to Future Climate Change Lawsuits

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in American Electric Power v. Connecticut that federal common law nuisance claims cannot be used to address harms arising from climate change. In 2004, eight states, New York City, and...more