K N Energy, Inc. v. City of Casper

This case presents directly the question of the authority of a Wyoming municipality to regulate a public utility by enactment of a licensing ordinance. K N Energy, Inc., doing business as Northern Utilities Division of K N Energy, Inc. (Northern), instituted a declaratory judgment action in the district court seeking a declaration that the ordinance adopted by the City of Casper (Casper) is void. The district court declared specific provisions of the ordinance to be invalid and unenforceable because of conflict with the regulatory authority over public utilities assigned by statute to the Public Service Commission of Wyoming (PSC), but it sustained the balance of the ordinance adopted by Casper. We cannot agree that Casper had any authority to adopt the ordinance in issue, and we reverse the decision of the district court. It is our conclusion that the ordinance is void in its entirety because there exists no authority for a city to adopt such an ordinance.