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Public Utilities Commission Reform Takes A Step Back, Deborah Nicole Behles, Steven Weissman Oct 2015

Public Utilities Commission Reform Takes A Step Back, Deborah Nicole Behles, Steven Weissman

Publications

California is taking a leadership role with its progressive energy and environmental policies by requiring that half its energy is generated from renewable resources, authorizing the largest low-income solar initiative in the country and mandating a 50 percent increase in building energy efficiency. But the primary agency overseeing many of these policies, the California Public Utilities Commission, has been plagued with allegations of impropriety. Last fall, emails between commissioners and high-level utility officials led to serious questions about the integrity and fairness of the PUC’s decision-making.


Spring 2015 Utton Center Newsletter, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law Apr 2015

Spring 2015 Utton Center Newsletter, Utton Center, University Of New Mexico - School Of Law

Publications

No abstract provided.


Optimizing Reservoir Operations To Adapt To 21st Century Expectations Of Climate And Social Change In The Willamette River Basin, Oregon, Kathleen M. Moore Apr 2015

Optimizing Reservoir Operations To Adapt To 21st Century Expectations Of Climate And Social Change In The Willamette River Basin, Oregon, Kathleen M. Moore

Publications

Reservoir systems in the western US are managed to serve two main competing purposes: to reduce flooding during the winter and spring, and to provide water supply for multiple uses during the summer. Because the storage capacity of a reservoir cannot be used for both flood damage reduction and water storage at the same time, these two uses are traded off as the reservoir fills during the transition from the wet to the dry season. Climate change, population growth, and development in the western US may exacerbate dry season water scarcity and increase winter flood risk, creating a need to …


Report By Ggu And Uc Berkeley Faculty Finds Cpuc Ex Parte Rules Unusual And Needing Reform, Deborah Nicole Behles Jan 2015

Report By Ggu And Uc Berkeley Faculty Finds Cpuc Ex Parte Rules Unusual And Needing Reform, Deborah Nicole Behles

Publications

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has an unusual way of doing business. Most state and federal regulatory agencies prohibit private, closed-door discussions with interested parties about contested matters (ex parte communications).


Ex Parte Requirements At The California Public Utility Commission: A Comparative Analysis And Recommended Changes, Deborah Nicole Behles, Steven Weissman Jan 2015

Ex Parte Requirements At The California Public Utility Commission: A Comparative Analysis And Recommended Changes, Deborah Nicole Behles, Steven Weissman

Publications

Emails released beginning in the fall of 2014 demonstrate several improper private communications between high-level utility officials and decision-makers at the California Public Utility Commission (“CPUC”). The email chains show discussions ranging from a utility repeatedly lobbying on the outcome of an enforcement matter or aggressively pushing for a new judge assignment, to a commissioner soliciting donations to a political campaign or a banquet fund. Entities in the transportation industry have also alleged improper contacts with CPUC officials. In each instance, the CPUC decision-makers did not report the communications or insist that the utilities stop sending them. Rather, they actively …


Who Regulates The Robots, Margot Kaminski Jan 2015

Who Regulates The Robots, Margot Kaminski

Publications

No abstract provided.


Bypassing Federalism And The Administrative Law Of Negawatts, Sharon B. Jacobs Jan 2015

Bypassing Federalism And The Administrative Law Of Negawatts, Sharon B. Jacobs

Publications

Presidential unilateralism has become a defining feature of the executive branch. But a related and equally important phenomenon has been largely ignored: federal agency efforts to circumvent statutory federalism boundaries. This move, which the Article calls "bypassing federalism, " involves using existing jurisdictional authority to work defacto, rather than dejure, reallocations of power. The Article explores agency bypassing through the lens of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's ("FERC's") promotion of demand response in electricity markets. Demand response refers to customer sales of negative watts, or "negawatts," back to the electrical grid. FERC, eager to promote demand-side management programs but stymied …


A Pragmatic Approach To Interpreting The Federal Rules, Suzette M. Malveaux Jan 2015

A Pragmatic Approach To Interpreting The Federal Rules, Suzette M. Malveaux

Publications

No abstract provided.