Environmental -- 2016



North Dakota v. Heydinger   (8th Circuit)

Challenge to Minnesota's Next General Energy Act restricting out-of-state electricity

The NAM filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit challenging a Minnesota regulation, the Next Generation Energy Act (NGEA), which would have placed significant burdens on coal-fueled facilities and unlawfully regulated out-of-state commerce. The NGEA, sought to regulate and impose energy and environmental policies on electricity generated in other states by prohibiting importing electricity into Minnesota from any new large energy facility that would contribute to statewide power sector carbon dioxide emissions. If upheld, this matter would have caused uncertainty to manufacturers in the energy sector and others impacted by the NGEA. The NAM’s brief argued that 1) the law would substantially impede the interstate market for electricity in violation of the Commerce Clause; 2) the law could spur other states to adopt similar laws, which could result in a web of inconsistent and clashing local regulations that would destroy the national common market and impose untold costs on manufacturers and other consumers; and 3) the law was unconstitutional because it purported to allow a state to ban imported products based solely on how they were produced in other states. In a win for manufactures, the Eighth Circuit struck down Minnesota's law.