Lessor entitled to judgment that oil and gas lease expired
Partial summary judgment for the lessor was affirmed Wednesday by the Indiana Court of Appeals in a contract dispute involving an oil and gas lease of land in Sullivan County.
Energy & Environmental Law
Articles
Pashos: Is cost-of-service regulation relevant in today’s world?
Today, public utilities are experiencing significant cost increases, due to issues such as federal environmental and other mandates, and the need to upgrade decades-old infrastructure. These cost pressures, combined with fast-paced technology, market changes and other states’ experimentation with retail deregulation, are causing policymakers and others to ask whether cost-of-service regulation remains relevant or whether deregulation might be a preferable alternative.
Indiana joins brief seeking to halt EPA-led plan to clean up Chesapeake Bay
Decades of squabbles over cleaning up one of America’s most historic but polluted waters resulted in an agreement between states and the federal government that supporters say could restore the Chesapeake Bay to a swimmable, fishable national treasure. But if Indiana and other states without a direct stake in the Chesapeake have their way, the cleanup hashed out between bay states and the Environmental Protection Agency will be stopped.
A bottleneck is bedeviling Indiana’s mighty wind turbines
Gusts blowing across Interstate 65 north of Lafayette one recent day were powerful enough to shake cars but impotent to budge the blades of the giant wind turbines dotting the sparse landscape. On an ideal day for generating electricity, the colossal pinwheels were eerily still, and for the most unlikely of reasons. They’d been turned off.
‘No-more-stringent’ measure stirring controversy
A bill winding through the Statehouse would alter Indiana environmental regulatory process by shifting most of the authority to enact new rules from the executive branch to the Legislature.
Reprimand issued for ALJ in IURC-Duke scandal
A former administrative law judge with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has been reprimanded by the Indiana Supreme Court, which ruled this week that a harsher sanction was unwarranted because he’d already been punished enough for seeking a job with Duke Energy while making rulings concerning the utility.
Company can’t prevail in appeal on claims of collusion
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the confirmation of a sale of an ethanol plant in South Bend to a joint venture, rejecting a nonbidder’s claim that the establishment of the joint venture amounted to collusion that spoiled the auction.
Justices affirm dismissal of Logansport power plant suit
Local units of government may engage in preliminary talks or solicit prospective public-private partners before those units of government have adopted legislation enabling such agreements, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a challenge to Logansport’s efforts to overhaul a coal-burning power plant.
Will Indiana’s economy cool due to rising energy costs?
Bose McKinney & Evans attorney Nikki Shoultz discusses the relationship of the economy on rising energy costs.
Ex-IURC leader’s criminal charges dropped
The former chairman of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission won’t face trial on felony charges stemming from an ethics scandal at the agency, a judge ruled Monday.
Justices take Rockport gasification appeal
The Indiana Supreme Court will hear an appeal that could determine the fate of a controversial proposal to fund a southern Indiana coal gasification plant with guaranteed prices above current market rates for the substitute natural gas it would create.
Rockport on the rocks
The Indiana Legislature leaves the fate of a derided coal gasification plant proposal to justices.
Stepping outside the career comfort zone
Taking utility president role at PSI Energy had risks for Kay Pashos.
Town takes unusual step to gain control of utility
Mooresville’s bid to purchase water operations likely will be decided in court.
IDEM’s application of new antidegradation rule raising ire
After more than 10 years of protracted and, at times, contentious debate, Indiana finalized protections for some of its most clean waters. But less than a year after taking effect, a short letter denying an antidegradation application has unleashed criticism that the state is not implementing the rule as intended.
Tracking fracking in Indiana
Recent laws provide regulations, but an effort for advance plan approval gains little traction.
Duke loses appeal of scandal-touched IURC rate case reversal
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission’s reversal and subsequent rejection of deferred accounting of $11.9 million for Duke Energy was affirmed by the Court of Appeals Friday in a case revisited because of an ethics scandal involving state regulators.
Powers collide in utility rate case charged by ethics scandal
Undue influence is an undercurrent of Duke Energy v. Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission case.
Possible end of tax credit leaves future renewable energy sources up in the air
Newton County lawyer Dan Blaney has a blunt reaction to the potential end of a federal subsidy that has enabled the rise of wind energy in his part of the state. “We’re in trouble,” he said.
Drought fuels renewed drive for a statewide water policy
The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is finding that there is nothing quite like a dry, arid, hot summer to spark people’s interest in water.