Energy & Utilities Law › Conflict of Laws

N.Y. Appellate Division Affirms Zoning Ordinance Banning Hydraulic Fracturing

Sedgwick’s Hydraulic Fracturing Task Force has been watching the ongoing litigation involving hydraulic fracturing (fracking) bans in the towns of Dryden and Middlefield, N.Y. In February 2012 we reported on the Supreme...more

New York Court Upholds Local Hydraulic Fracturing and Oil and Gas Development Bans

Last Friday, a four judge panel of a New York appeals court upheld two local zoning laws that prohibit activities related to oil and gas exploration and development, including hydraulic fracturing. The decisions in Norse...more

Youngstown City Hydraulic Fracturing Ban Approved for May Ballot

In late February, we covered the state and federal legislative and enforcement responses to the release of hydraulic fracturing waste into a Youngstown, Ohio area tributary by a local oil and gas drilling operator. Shortly...more

Native Village Of Kivalina Files Its Petition For Certiorari - A Five-Year Climate Change Litigation Marathon That Has Yet To...

One day short of five years since the case was originally filed, on February 25, 2013 the plaintiffs in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp. attempt once more to get out of the starting blocks, this time with a...more

Virginia AG: Localities Cannot Ban Gas Drilling Through Zoning

Continuing on this blog’s ongoing exploration of the intersection of state and local regulation of shale drilling, several weeks ago Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued an advisory opinion finding that state oil...more

Western Pa.'s Take On Carbon Dioxide Liability Claims

Originally published in Law360 on December 17, 2012. Left open by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011), was the question of whether state law nuisance...more

State Common Law Carbon Dioxide Liability Claims: Premonitions of Preemption (and Dismissal)

Left open by the Supreme Court’s decision in American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, 131 S. Ct. 2527 (2011), was the question of whether state law nuisance claims for the emission of carbon dioxide were viable in the...more

U.S. District Court Holds that Federal Clean Air Act Preempts Pennsylvania State Law Common Law Tort Claims

On October 12, 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued an opinion and order in Kristie Bell v. Cheswick Generating Station, GenOn Power Midwest, L.P., No. 2:12-cv-929, holding that state...more

Southern District of Texas Holds That Traditional Choice of Law Rules Do Not Apply To TCPA Claims

Bank v. Sparks Energy Holdings, LLC, Civ. No. 4:11-cv-4082, 2012 WL 4097749 (S.D. Tex. Sept. 13, 2012) Plaintiff, a citizen of the State of New York, filed a purported class action lawsuit in Texas against Defendant. At...more

Last Federal Climate Change Case Dismissed by Ninth Circuit

Last Friday, the Ninth Circuit dismissed the last climate change lawsuit still pending in the federal courts to the best of my knowledge. Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Corp. was a lawsuit by a small Alaskan village...more

Ninth Circuit Displaces Kivalina v. ExxonMobil Climate Change Liability Case

In litigation concerning liability for the emission of greenhouse gases, the federal common law of nuisance is displaced by the Clean Air Act. This is not news. It was established by the Supreme Court over a year ago in...more

"Fifth Circuit Holds That Electricity Agreements Are Shielded From Avoidance Powers Under Bankruptcy Safe Harbor"

In its recent decision in Lightfoot v. MXEnergy Electric, Inc. (In re MBS Mgmt. Serv., Inc.), No. 11-30553, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 15995 (5th Cir. Aug. 2, 2012), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled...more

PPL Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Brief For Southeastern Legal Foundation, CATO Institute, And Goldwater Institute As Amici Curiae In Support Of The Petition For...

An American energy company called PPL bought one of many state-owned British utilities privatized in the 1980s. In 1997, PPL thus became subject to the U.K.'s new "windfall tax," which was based in part on "profit-making...more

D.C. Circuit Rebuffs Challenges to EPA’s Climate Change Regulations

In considering the most serious efforts to date to invalidate the federal climate change regulations, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously upheld several of EPA’s Clean Air Act greenhouse gas (GHG)...more

Pennsylvania Passes Comprehensive Amendments to Oil and Gas Laws

On February 13, Governor Tom Corbett signed House Bill 1950, amending Title 58 (Oil and Gas) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. This legislation, most of which will become effective on April 13, imposes a drilling...more

TRANSACTIONAL: Choice of law in international contracts: An English law primer

With the increasing globalization of business, companies are regularly faced with choosing governing law for cross-border construction contracts. Invariably, for private international law, English law is a contender.[1] This...more

Pennsylvania’s Oil and Gas Act Amended to Require "Uniformity" with Respect to Municipal Ordinances Regulating Oil and Gas...

On February 8, 2012, the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed House Bill 1950, which makes a series of reforms to the Commonwealth’s Oil and Gas Act, 58 P.S. §§ 601.101 et seq. Among the reforms to the Act...more

Local Matter Or Federal Case? The Network Of Cell Tower Regulation In California By Arthur F. Coon and Sean Marciniak*

I. INTRODUCTION. Few planning and zoning decisions generate more controversy than the placement of cellular phone antennas. If the proposed site lies near a residential area, neighbors often will organize for purposes...more

Busy Times in Climate Change Regulation

In This Alert: In the Courts: Supreme Court Weighs In Again on Greenhouse Gas Regulation; In Congress: Efforts Stall to Rein In EPA Authority to Regulate Greenhouse Gases; At EPA: The Rulemaking Process Lumbers On; and...more

Supreme Court Issues Decision in: American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut - Clean Air Act Displaces Federal Common Law Claims...

Today, the Supreme Court issued a decision rejecting an attempt to hold private companies liable in tort for greenhouse gas emissions alleged to contribute to global climate change. In an 8-0 decision, the Court held that...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

Is the Service Area of a Federally Indebted Water Utility Still “Sacrosanct” Under 7 USC 1926(b)?

Introduction: •What is 7 USC 1926(b) •Characteristics of Retail W/WW Service •Classic Service Encroachment Case •What Constitutes “Service Made Available” •Impact of Recent Court Decisions Please see full...more

Supreme Court to Hear Appeal of Connecticut v. American Electric Power

The Supreme Court of the United States has granted certiorari in the Second Circuit's Connecticut v. American Electric Power decision, which allowed federal common law nuisance claims to proceed against several utilities...more

Wiggle Room for Local Regulation of Marcellus Gas Drilling, or Potentially Reversible Error?

On July 22, 2010, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania decided Penneco Oil Company v. The County of Fayette, Pennsylvania,1 holding that a local "zoning" ordinance targeting natural gas drilling is not preempted by...more

Attorney General: Emergency state regulations preempt local AOSS ordinances

On November 9, 2009, Virginia Attorney General Bill Mims issued an official opinion stating that the State Board of Health’s adoption of emergency regulations would trigger preemption of local government regulations of...more