The Second Circuit has handed New York City and New York State a major appellate win, ruling that they may enforce measures that effectively bar fossil-fuel appliances in newly constructed buildings. The decision is important well beyond New York: it sharpens a growing disagreement among federal appeals courts over whether local and state building-electrification laws are preempted by federal energy-efficiency statutes.

At the center of the dispute were challenges by trade groups and unions arguing that the city and state restrictions unlawfully intrude on an area governed by federal law, particularly the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

The Ninth Circuit has handed Alaska regulators a significant win in a dispute over access to oil-and-gas well information, ruling that federal law does not preempt an Alaska statute requiring disclosure of certain ConocoPhillips well data. The decision reverses a lower-court ruling that had allowed the records to remain confidential and marks an important appellate development at the intersection of energy regulation, public-records obligations, and preemption doctrine.

At a high level, the fight centered on whether federal statutes and regulations governing energy-related information displaced Alaska’s disclosure regime.