Bowfin Keycon Holdings, LLC v. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed appeals of a preliminary injunction blocking Pennsylvania’s implementation of Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) regulations. The court ruled that the appeals were moot because the parties who obtained the preliminary injunction failed to submit the $100 million bond. The order imposing the bond was affirmed as a result of the Supreme Court being equally divided. An injunction barring implementation of the RGGI regulations remained in place in a <a href="https://climatecasechart.com/case/mcdonnell-v-pennsylvania-legislative-reference-bureau/">separate case</a>.

Justice Wecht wrote a concurring statement in support of the per curiam affirmance of the bond order.

In a concurring statement, Justice Donohue, joined by Justice Doughtery, wrote that “failure to file the bond rendered the preliminary injunction a legal nullity and inoperative,” and that the mootness finding should have been extended to the appeal of the amount of the bond.

Justice Wecht wrote a concurring statement in support of the per curiam affirmance of the bond order. Justice Mundy, joined by Justice Brobson, wrote a concurring and dissenting statement expressing the view that “if the bond amount was in error and thus void ab inito, the failure to post it could not have validly impinged upon … enforcement” of the preliminary injunction and the Supreme Court should “either remand for imposition of a nominal bond or permit oral argument on the issue.”

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied an application by companies and organizations challenging the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative regulations to modify a preliminary injunction enjoining implementation of the regulations to eliminate a requirement for a bond of $100 million.