Invenergy Thermal LLC v. Sixkiller

The U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari to the owners of a natural gas power plant in Washington who asked the Court to consider their claim that Washington’s Climate Commitment Act violates the dormant Commerce Clause by distributing “no-cost allowances” for power plants owned by in-state utilities while requiring the owners of independent power plants to purchase allowances. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held in December 2024 that the owners failed to state a viable dormant Commerce Clause claim.

The owners of a natural gas power plant in Washington filed a petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider their claim that Washington’s Climate Commitment Act violates the dormant Commerce Clause by distributing “no-cost allowances” for power plants owned by in-state utilities while requiring the owners of independent power plants to purchase allowances. The petition presented the questions of whether Supreme Court precedent “immunizes State laws affecting utilities from challenge under the dormant Commerce Clause, even when those laws affect competitive markets” and whether “alleging interstate and market-wide consequences of a state law, including a protectionist effect, adequately alleges a burden on interstate commerce, as five Justices would have held in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, 598 U.S. 356 (2023).”