An appeals court has ruled for a second time to uphold federal regulators’ approval of a solar array and battery storage facility in Billings, Montana.
In a divided decision last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission complied with federal law when it issued a certification order for the Broadview Solar facility.
The case was among one of the first to be sent back by the Supreme Court for reconsideration in 2024 after the high court struck down Chevron deference. The decades-old legal doctrine — which the Supreme Court overturned in Loper Bright v. Raimondo — had directed courts to defer to agencies’ reasonable interpretation of ambiguous laws.
The D.C. Circuit had initially relied on the now-defunct theory when it found that Broadview Solar met limits set under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) to count as a qualifying facility. The 1978 law is meant to boost renewables and requires utilities to purchase power from small energy projects.
