U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Exxon in Climate Change Document Fight
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the attorney general of Massachusetts to obtain records from Exxon Mobil Corp to probe whether the oil company for decades concealed its knowledge of the role fossil fuels play in climate change.The justices declined to hear Exxon's appeal of a ruling by the top court in Massachusetts holding that Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, had jurisdiction to seek records to probe whether the company misled consumers and…
U.S. Top Court Rejects Constitution Pipeline Over New York Permit
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dealt another setback to a proposed natural gas pipeline running from Pennsylvania to New York, rejecting Constitution Pipeline Co's bid to challenge New York state's refusal to issue a needed water permit for the project.The high court left in place an August 2017 ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the state. Partners in the 125-mile (201-km) pipeline project include Williams Cos Inc, Duke Energy Corp, WGL Holdings Inc and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.Reporting by Lawrence Hurley
U.S. Top Court Hands Chevron Victory in Ecuador Pollution Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to Chevron Corp by preventing Ecuadorean villagers and their American lawyer from trying to collect on an $8.65 billion pollution judgment issued against the oil company by a court in Ecuador. The justices turned away an appeal by New York-based lawyer Steven Donziger, who has spent more than to two decades trying to hold Chevron responsible for pollution in the Ecuadorean rain forest, of lower court rulings blocking enforcement in the United States of the 2011 judgment.
US Top Court Sides with Venezuela over Oil Rigs Claim
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday tossed out a lower court's ruling that had allowed an American oil drilling company to sue Venezuela over the seizure of 11 drilling rigs in 2010 but allowed the business another chance to press its claims. Siding with Venezuela, the justices ruled 8-0 that a lower court that had given the go-ahead for the suit must reconsider whether claims made by Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company can proceed. Writing for the court, Justice Stephen Breyer said the U.S.
Clean Power Plan Lawsuit Put on Hold
A U.S. appeals court on Friday granted a Trump administration request to put on hold a legal challenge by industry and a group of states to former President Barack Obama's regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse emissions mainly from coal-fired power plants, rules that the Republican president is moving to undo. A 10-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted the request to put the litigation involving the regulations known as the Clean Power Plan in abeyance for at least 60 days while the administration plans its next steps.
US Justices Drill Down on Venezuela Oil Rig Dispute
Some U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared wary about the foreign policy implications of making it too easy for foreign governments to be sued in U.S. courts as they considered a lawsuit by an Oklahoma-based oil drilling company that claims Venezuela unlawfully seized 11 drilling rigs six years ago. The eight justices heard an hour-long argument in Venezuela's appeal of a lower court ruling that allowed one of the claims brought by Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company against the South American nation to proceed.
US Supreme Court to Hear Venezuela Oil Rig Dispute
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to weigh Venezuela's bid to block a lawsuit filed by an American oil drilling company that claims the South American country unlawfully seized 11 drilling rigs six years ago. The high court will review a May 2015 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that allowed one of the claims made by Oklahoma-based Helmerich & Payne International Drilling Company to move forward. The company sued both the Venezuelan government and state-owned oil companies under a U.S.
U.S. Court Sets Aside Obama Administration Fracking Rules for Public Lands
A federal judge in Wyoming has set aside new regulations for hydraulic fracturing on public lands that were vehemently opposed by oil and gas producers. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management lacked Congressional authority to set the rules that cover the practice on federal and Indian lands, U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl in Wyoming ruled on Tuesday. Skavdahl had put the rules, which were issued in their final form in March 2015, on hold a year ago to weigh requests from energy industry groups and several states to stop them from being implemented.
U.S. Top Court Rejects Challenge to Obama Mercury Air Pollution Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower-court ruling that left in place Obama administration environmental regulations limiting power plant emissions of mercury and other toxic pollutants while the Environmental Protection Agency revised them. The justices opted not to hear an appeal by 20 states led by Michigan of a December U.S. appeals court decision that said the rules could remain intact while the government responded to last year's Supreme Court ruling that the EPA should have considered the compliance costs when crafting the regulations.
U.S. Top Court Rejects Ecuador Challenge to Chevron Arbitration Award
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Ecuador's challenge to a $96 million international arbitration award in favor of energy company Chevron Corp in a dispute over the development of oil fields in the South American country. The high court's refusal to hear the case leaves in place an August 2015 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholding a 2011 award in Chevron's favor from The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley)
U.S. Top Court Rejects Exxon Appeal in Groundwater Contamination Case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Exxon Mobil Corp's appeal of a $236 million judgment against the oil company in a case brought by the state of New Hampshire over groundwater contamination linked to a gasoline additive. The justices left in place the New Hampshire Supreme Court's 2015 ruling upholding the judgment by a jury that in 2013 spurned Exxon's claims that the contamination linked to its fuel additive was not its fault but rather the fault of the local gas stations and storage facilities that spilled it. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley)
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Appeal in Shareholder Suit Against BP
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a request from shareholders seeking to revive their class action lawsuit against BP claiming the British oil company misrepresented its safety procedures prior to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The court left in place a September 2015 ruling by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that refused to certify the lawsuit filed by investors who bought shares in the 2-1/2 years before the spill. BP's share price plummeted after the disaster that has cost the company more than $55 billion.
U.S. Top Court Rules Against Maryland Over Power Plant Subsidies
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against Maryland in its bid to revive a program to subsidize natural gas-fired electricity plant construction to serve the power needs of its residents in a case weighing state versus federal authority. Writing on behalf of the court in the 8-0 ruling, liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the Maryland program infringed upon the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) authority to regulate interstate wholesale electricity rates.
Possible Scalia Replacement Previously Represented Exxon, Rio Tinto
One possible contender to replace Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court is an Indian-American appeals court judge, Sri Srinivasan, who has pro-business credentials and a stellar resume. If he was nominated his background may make it more politically challenging for Republicans as they plan to block anyone put forward by President Barack Obama. Srinivasan, 48, has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit since he was confirmed on a 97-0 bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate in May 2013.
Obama Climate Plan Faces Skeptical Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court's unexpected move to block President Barack Obama's policy to cut pollution from coal plants highlights what both sides in the legal fight agree is a key weakness in the rules -- a provision that expands the scope of regulation far beyond curbing emissions from individual smoke stacks. Tuesday's order, in which the court put a halt to the administration's Clean Power Plan while a legal challenge goes forward in a federal appeals court, did not detail why the court's five conservatives believed a stay was warranted.
U.S. Top Court Upholds Electricity Markets Rule
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a major Obama administration electricity markets regulation aimed at encouraging efficiency in the market by having grid operators pay large users to reduce consumption at peak times. The court ruled 6-2, with Justice Samuel Alito not taking part in the case, to reverse a May 2014 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to strike down the 2011 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulation. The regulation concerns what FERC calls "demand response…
Supreme Court Rejects Human Rights Suit Against Occidental
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to revive a human rights lawsuit against Occidental Petroleum Corp and a security contractor that had accused them of complicity in a deadly 1998 bombing by Colombia's military of a village in the South American country. The court left intact a November 2014 ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stating that victims' families could not pursue claims against Occidental and Florida-based AirScan Inc under two U.S. human rights laws, the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victims Protection Act.
Legal Challenges for Obama Administration's Central Carbon Rule
Twenty-three states said on Friday they have filed a petition with a U.S. appeals court to block the Obama administration's proposal to curb carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, the centerpiece of his high-profile climate change strategy. West Virginia, Texas, Florida and Ohio were among the states to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, saying it pushed the limits of the federal Clean Air Act. "EPA claims to have sweeping power to enact…
U.S. Moves Ahead with Carbon Rule, States to Sue
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will formally issue carbon regulations for power plants on Friday, opening the door to a wave of lawsuits from states and industry groups. The EPA will publish its Clean Power Plan in the Federal Register, a formal step that will start the clock on legal challenges from opponents of the rule. The Obama administration unveiled the final version of the Clean Power Plan on Aug. 3. It aims to lower emissions from the country's power plants by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.
Top Court to Hear MD Bid to Reinstate Gas-Plants
The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to hear appeals seeking to reinstate a program in Maryland aimed at subsidizing construction of new natural gas-fired electricity plants. The court agreed to review an appeals court ruling that said the state's program was blocked by federal law. The court did not act on related petitions concerning a similar program in New Jersey, meaning that case will likely be held for the ruling in the Maryland case. The Maryland and New Jersey programs were challenged by power company PPL Corp and other generators.
