Findlaw Environmental Case Summaries

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CASES                   

• FPL Energy Maine Hydro LLC v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n
• State of North Carolina v. Envtl. Prot. Agency
• American Forest & Paper Assoc. v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n
• Devon Energy Corp. v. Kempthorne

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U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, December 23, 2008

FPL Energy Maine Hydro LLC v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n , No. 051871
In dispute regarding plaintiff's effort to secure a renewal of an operating license from defendant-federal commission plaintiff's attempts to get a water state quality certification, petition to review defendant's stay order is denied where: 1) res judicata did not deprive plaintiff of its ordinary opportunity to get an order issued by defendant reviewed on the merits in a federal circuit court; 2) plaintiff did not show that the standard of review applicable to its legal claim was any different than in the Maine Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) than it would have been if the court considered the legal issue itself; 3) defendant did not modify the license but simply stayed its order granting the license pending reconsideration; and 4) the Maine SJC's contrary determination that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Board's rescission was timely bound plaintiff in the present court. Read more...

U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, December 23, 2008
State of North Carolina v. Envtl. Prot. Agency , No. 05-1244, 05-1246, 05-1249, 05-1250, 05-1251, 05-1252, 05-1253, 05-1254, 05-1256, 05-1259, 05-1260, 05-1262, 06-1217, 06-1222, 06-1224, 06-1226, 06-1227, 06-1228, 06-1229, 06-1230, 06-1232, 06-1233, 06-1235, 06-1236, 06-1237, 06-1238, 06-1240, 06-1241, 06-1242, 06-1243, 06-1245, 07-1115
In a per curiam decision reviewing challenges to aspects of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), cases are remanded to defendant-EPA without vacatur of CAIR where allowing CAIR to remain in effect until it is replaced by a rule consistent with the court's opinion would at least temporarily preserve the environmental values covered by CAIR. Read more...

U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, December 23, 2008
American Forest & Paper Assoc. v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n, No. 071328
Petition for review of defendant-Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) interpretation of a term used in amendment to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) is denied where defendant-FERC's interpretation of the term "markets" in 16 U.S.C. section 824a-3(m)(1)(A)(ii) encompassing both competitive and non-competitive markets was reasonable. Read more...

U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, December 23, 2008
Devon Energy Corp. v. Kempthorne, No. 075299
Pursuant to plaintiff's lease to extract coalbed methane from federal land in Wyoming, final order issued by US Department of the Interior (DOI) requiring plaintiff to retroactively recalculate royalties owed to the government is affirmed where: 1) the DOI's interpretation of the marketable condition rule reflected a reasonable construction of the rule; 2) the agency's order was not at odds with the plain language of the rule, nor did it effectively "amend," rather than reasonably construe the rule; and 3) plaintiff's claim that DOI's order conflicted with a prior interpretation of the marketable condition rule is rejected. Read more...