Green Groups, US Debate Deference in Midwest Power Line Case

Conservation groups and federal agencies are split about whether regulators’ approval of a federal land exchange that would allow an electric transmission line to cross a wildlife refuge complies with the Supreme Court’s decision to limit when courts defer to agency interpretations of laws.

Conservationists’ focus on the Supreme Court’s June ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo is “misguided” because the now-overturned Chevron deference hasn’t been invoked by any party in the first place, federal agency defendants argued in a brief filed Thursday with the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Loper Bright overturned the holding ...