Maryland Green Marketing Restrictions Paused by Appeals Panel

A Maryland law governing how energy suppliers can market renewables likely violates the First Amendment, a federal appeals panel ruled Friday.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit instructed a lower court to block a new part of the state’s public utility code that forbids certain companies from promoting their electricity as clean or environmentally friendly unless more than half comes from renewable sources or is backed by renewable energy credits.

“The State does not meet the high bar to establish that the regulated terms are inherently misleading because the targeted speech includes phrases that may be presented ...