The Vital Importance of Pipeline and Transmission Infrastructure to Decarbonization - Energy Law Insights
Eminent Domain: First Principles, Kelo, and In Service of Infrastructure Buildout
On-Demand Webinar | Linear Infrastructure Redux: Adapting Your Projects to Meet the New Regulatory Climate
Nota Bene Episode 97: The Seismic Changes Renewables Are Bringing to Energy Transmission and Its Infrastructure with Mark Sundback
Policy Minute: TSA Cybersecurity Roadmap for Pipelines
On March 28, 2025, the D.C. Circuit denied a joint petition for review brought by Healthy Gulf and Sierra Club (together, “Petitioners”) challenging FERC’s grant of a certificate of public convenience and necessity (CPCN) to...more
In a landmark decision, a North Dakota jury has ordered Greenpeace to pay over $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This verdict stems from Greenpeace’s involvement...more
The Conservation Law Foundation, Inc. filed a citizen suit Complaint in the United States District Court of Massachusetts on November 12th alleging violations by the following: Besides the Conservation Law Foundation, the...more
As 2022 draws to a close, here is a brief description of recent environmental and regulatory law rulings, as well as new federal rulemaking proceedings....more
Last week, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals again rejected a FERC NEPA review for failure to assess the climate impacts resulting from the downstream use of natural gas supplied by a gas pipeline upgrade project...more
The Court of Appeal held that a CEQA challenge to a decision approving removal of trees adjacent to PG&E gas pipelines was time-barred because an agreement to toll the statute of limitations did not include PG&E, which was an...more
With all the attention focused on the Keystone pipeline and the disputes over local regulation of fracking, it’s easy to overlook the small city of South Portland, Maine (population 26,000), which just prevailed in the First...more
Linear infrastructure projects, including oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and transportation, have faced a number of regulatory challenges over the last year. Some of these challenges stem from changes in...more
It has long been recognized that minority and disadvantaged communities are subject to higher levels of pollution than more affluent non-minority areas. This fact is the basis of the need for Environmental Justice to ensure...more
Mountain Valley Says Natural Gas Pipeline Timing Depends on Litigation, U.S. Approvals - “'As the litigation process progresses and as we receive additional information from FERC regarding potentially releasing the...more
U.S. Shale Producers Race for Federal Permits Ahead of Presidential Election - "Federal permitting in the largest U.S. oilfield in the Permian Basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, is up 80 percent in about the last three...more
Federal agencies to limit water pollution enforcement where states have taken action - Bullet The Hill – July 27 - The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday released a memorandom stating that it will not pursue...more
On July 16, 2020, President Trump’s Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) published the long-awaited final rule revising the implementing regulations for the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). 85 Fed. Reg. 43,304...more
Linear infrastructure projects, including oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and transportation, have faced a number of regulatory challenges in recent months. Some of these challenges stem from changes in...more
On July 6, 2020, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling ordering that the Dakota Access Pipeline (the Pipeline) be shut down and emptied by August 5, 2020. The decision...more
Fossil Fuels Still Supply 84 Percent of World Energy — and Other Eye Openers from BP’s Annual Review - "China was responsible for three quarters of the world’s energy consumption growth, followed by India and Indonesia....more
Bricker attorneys Frank Merrill and Christine Rideout Schirra will be presenting 'Environmental Permitting Appeals and Pipeline Construction: Are the circuit courts the new environmental review courts?' for the Institute of...more
On Thursday, May 28, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to stay on appeal a lower court ruling which has already had a nationwide impact on permitting of oil and gas pipelines that cross streams...more
Energy Companies to Appeal Loss of Forest Service Permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline - "The builders of the $7 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline say they will appeal a federal court ruling that invalidated a permit allowing...more
The U.S. Supreme Court Slows Children's Climate Lawsuit - For Now - "In the latest step of a fascinating bit of constitutional law called Atmospheric Trust Litigation, the Chief Justice halted the District Court trial...more
Anti-Secrecy Lawsuits Soaring Against Pruitt's EPA - "The suits have come from open government groups, environmentalists and even conservative organizations that have run into a wall trying to pry information out of...more
Northeast Could be Second U.S. Petrochemical Hub - "'While the region with its ample and reliable supply of ethane is primed for the emergence as a second major petrochemical manufacturing hub in the United States, it...more
Department of Interior Rescinds OSM Enforcement Policies - On October 12, 2017, the Department of the Interior ("DOI") withdrew two prior Office of Surface Mining ("OSM") policies affecting mining operations. DOI rescinded...more