Tenth Circuit Rejects Challenge To Colorado's Renewable Energy Standards; Supreme Court Denies Cert

On December 7, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for writ of certiorari in Energy & Environment Legal Institute v. Epel , No. 15-471, which sought to overturn the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit's July13, 2015 opinion, 793 F.3d 1160, affirming a federal district court's judgment upholding Colorado's Renewable Energy Standards. Petitioners challenged the constitutionality of a Colorado statute and related regulations (the "Renewable Energy Standards") requiring "qualified retail utilities" to "generate, or cause to be generated," electricity from Colorado-approved renewable sources in specified minimum amounts. Specifically, the Renewable Energy Standards require 30 percent of electricity supplied by investor-owned utilities to be obtained from Colorado-approved renewable...