Law Commons^™

New Energy Geopolitics?: China, Renewable Energy, And The "Greentech Race", Joel B. Eisen

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Commentators believe that programs in China promoting development of new renewable energy capacity have produced astonishing achievements in a short period of time. Evoking the "space race" between the United States and the U.S.S.R. after the launch of the Sputnik satellite in 1957, observers contend that the United States and China are in a "greentech race" to secure international leadership in the development and deployment of renewable energy. As U.S. Energy Secretary Chu has put it, many believe this is a modern "Sputnik moment." This Article finds that China's programs and initiatives are indeed leading to considerable success, but, using …

Biotech Biofuels: How Patents May Save Biofuels And Create Empires, Adam Wolek

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The United States' primary transportation energy sources are fossil fuels, namely, gasoline and diesel. These products have high environmental, security, and financial costs. A strong emphasis has been placed on biofuels, especially ethanol and biodiesel, to lessen reliance on fossil fuels. Historically, high production costs, lack of infrastructure, return on investment anxieties, and concerns about scaling-up production have slowed the development of these alternative technologies. Today, biotechnological solutions are lowering productions costs and making large scale production more economically feasible. Patents can lessen anxieties about investment as they can provide longer-term protection and market exclusivity for patented technologies. As biofuels …

Mercurial But Not Swift—U.S. Epa's Initiative To Regulate Coal Plant Mercury Emissions Changes Course Again As It Enters A Third Decade, Keith Harley

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The effort to establish national standards to control mercury air pollution from coal-fired power plants now spans twenty years, four presidential administrations, and remains undone. This note will briefly describe the failed twenty-year effort to regulate mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. It will show how United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) efforts during the (first) Bush and Clinton Administrations to construct mercury regulations were dismantled during the Administration of George W. Bush. During the second Bush Administration, U.S. EPA substituted a new regulatory approach that was ultimately repudiated by the federal judiciary as plainly inconsistent with the Clean …

A Brief History Of Energy Law In United States Law Schools: An Introduction To The Symposium, Fred Bosselman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Corporate Social Responsibility In The Oil And Gas Industry: The Importance Of Reputational Risk, David B. Spence

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Modern oil and gas production takes place in environments that are increasingly challenging, environments that pose very high levels of technical risk, as well as political, social, environmental, heal and safety risks. The people of the oil-rich nations of the world are growing more assertive politically and more sensitive to the environmental, health, and safety risks posed by oil and gas development. Governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and local people seek the means to control oil and gas development so as to minimize the risk of harm and provide redress in the event harm is done. Oil and gas companies have …

Agriculture's Fate Under Climate Change: Economic And Environmental Imperatives For Action, John N. Moore, Van Bruggen

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Farming, ranching, and other agricultural activities are in a relatively unique position amongst all human-caused sources of global warming. Unlike fossil fueled power plants and vehicles, for example, agriculture will suffer direct economic losses from the impacts of global warming on its products, such as through reduced crop yields. Also unlike other causes of global warming, agriculture can both mitigate global warming and increase revenue through a range of different practices, such as carbon sequestration and investments in carbon-friendly renewable energy. This article explains how global warming affects agriculture, especially in the Midwest and Great Plains, and how agriculture contributes …

The Art Of Subsidizing Fuel-Free Electricity Under The European Economic Area Agreement As Illustrated By Norway's Reversion Instrument, Peter Ørebech

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The purpose of this article is to scrutinize legal barriers to state aid instruments in transforming fuel-based electricity into renewable energy, the subsidy prerequisites by which the national state may champion fuel free power production. Subsidy is illustrated by the 2004 Official Norwegian Report's (NOU) disapproval of the Norwegian Reversion Institute (NRI), as a result of a waiver clause to the benefit of municipal power plants. A licensing period of sixty years is final. Relicensing is not possible; only private leasing may occur.

As outlined, my basic criticism is that the NOU confuses interstate distortion of competition as it is …

Smart-Grid: Technology And The Psychology Of Environmental Behavior Change, Stephanie M. Stern

Chicago-Kent Law Review

There is a schism in the legal scholarship between scholars who argue that value, norm, and information campaigns can induce pro-environmental behavior and those who contend that structural, psychological, and social forces sharply constrain behavior change. Both sides of this debate have neglected the critical and ever-increasing role of technology in addressing residential pollution. The example of electricity "smart grids" illustrates how technology engineered to override cognitive and behavioral limitations can comprehensively reduce household consumption and emissions. Electricity conservation suffers from multiple barriers to collective action, including large numbers of geographically dispersed polluters, low financial payoffs, and, the contribution of …

The Legal-Political Barriers To Ramping Up To Hydro, Dan Tarlock

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Hydroelectric energy is the oldest major source of non-carbon, renewable energy and is the only conventional renewable resource in the current energy mix. Increased hydro capacity would seem to be a key element of any United States energy policy designed to promote the greater use of renewable resources. However, for several decades hydro has been perceived as a mature, fully developed technology. This article argues that any effort to stimulate substantial new hydro capacity will face a series of environmental legal and policy constraints. Efforts to adapt to global climate change will further complicate efforts to increase hydro electric generation. …

Of Nesting Dolls And Trojan Horses: A Survey Of Legal And Policy Issues Attendant To Vehicle-To-Grid Battery Electric Vehicles, Bryan Lamble

Chicago-Kent Law Review

2010 will not be remembered as the year when the domestic energy landscape changed, dominated as it was by environmental catastrophe and human calamity and tragedy caused by the search for and extraction of traditional fossil fuels. In fact, clean(er) energy and greater efficiency seem, in some ways, to be less of a reality at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century than many would have predicted (and hoped). Furthermore, a contentious mid-term election season (stoked by fears of massive deficits, rising national debt and ballooning government) dominated the headlines at the expense of what could prove …

Green Diesel: Finding A Place For Algae Oil, Fred Bosselman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The prospect of obtaining domestically-produced biodiesel from algae has attracted wide investor interest. Although many analysts predict that economic production is five to ten years away, the production process involves such a wide range of environmental and land use issues that it is not premature to begin thinking about the kinds of places in which "green biodiesel" could be efficiently made in the United States. Our land use and environmental laws were all drafted by people who never imagined the possibility that huge volumes of algae would be an important energy resource; nor could they have known that the location …

Privacy Implications Of Smart Meters, Cheryl Dancey Balough

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Many people worry about the erosion of privacy in our society given developments in technology, but that loss of privacy may take a quantum leap as electric "smart meters" make it possible for strangers to know on a real-time basis what is occurring in our houses and apartments. Perhaps the greatest concern is that current laws and regulations do not fully protect us from this unprecedented threat to two of our most basic rights—to be left alone in our own homes and to control personal information. Utility companies across the country are replacing conventional electric meters with smart meters designed …

Possible Impacts Through The 1980s, Mark J. Lafratta

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Averting Nuclear 9/11: The Need To Move Beyond Nepa And Transition To A Homeland Security-Administered Infrastructure Security Statement, Michael S. Munson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

China's Renewable Energy Law: A Platform For Green Leadership?, Joel B. Eisen

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Are Renewable Portfolio Standards A Policy Cure-All?: A Case Study Of Illinois's Experience, David G. Loomis, Adrienne Ohler

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Renewable Portfolio Standards (“RPS”) are stated to have a plethora of benefits: job creation, renewable energy growth, reduced carbon emissions, and a reduction in retail electricity prices. Often when a policy has multiple agendas, the policy fails to meet any of the objectives. Twenty-nine states have implemented an RPS, but state policies vary with regard to the sources considered eligible, out-of-state generation, credit trading, and the process of ensuring compliance. The various policy facets affect the growth of renewable energy within the state and affect the additional stated benefits of job creation and reduced emissions. This paper examines Illinois’s RPS …

So Much Up In The Air: The Carbon Dioxide Debate And Coal Plant Permitting In Virginia, Sam Robinson

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Square Pegs For Round Climate Change-Holes?, Ivan Gold, Nidhi Thakar

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Thirty states now have renewable portfolios standards that require generators of electricity to increase their use of renewable energy. Originally intended to promote “energy independence” and other environmental goals, today the programs are among the few U.S. programs which respond to the threat of global warming. This article considers how they work and whether they are effective. It concludes that, in the absence of comprehensive international or federal greenhouse gas controls, renewable portfolio standards are an effective and productive means to retard global warming.

When Prayer Trumps Politics: The Politics And Demographics Of Renewable Portfolio Standards, Joshua P. Fershee

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

2010 Judges' Edition Memorandum, Hana C. Heineken

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

2010 Moot Court Problem, Jeffrey G. Miller, Alexandra Dapolito Dunn, Sean T. Dixon

Pace Environmental Law Review

No abstract provided.

China's New Renewable Energy Law: The California Connection, Jan Hamrin

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

California's Hydrogen Highway Reconsidered, Joseph Romm

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Article begins with an assessment of anticipated climate change and sea rise impacts on California. Next, the contribution of greenhouse gas emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles to climate change is explained. This is followed by an analysis of the Hydrogen Highway proposal put forth by Governor Schwarzenegger, and a comparison of the potential economic viability and environmental benefits of hydrogen vehicle technology vis-a-vis gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.

Government's Role In Creating A Vibrant Solar Power Market In California, Bernadette Del Chiaro, Rachel Gibson

Golden Gate University Law Review

This Article examines solar power in California and the role state policy has and will play in creating a thriving, self-sufficient solar power market. Section I reviews the social benefits of solar power, particularly small-scale solar power systems capable of generating electricity at the point of end-use. Section II reviews the economic benefits of solar power from a consumer point of view. Section ill examines California's 30- year history of state policies designed to drive consumers toward solar power. Section IV focuses on Japan and how it, starting in 1994, established a ten-year incentive program aimed at lowering the cost …

Renewable Energy In United States Foreign Policy, Daniel Karnrnen

Golden Gate University Law Review

This article examines the root-causes of the United States' oil-induced myopia, and highlights the synergies that could exist between a low-carbon and a high-security national energy policy and how such synergies might reshape foreign policy dynamics and options.

Considering Environmental Justice In The Decision To Unbundle Renewable Energy Certificates, Ida Martinac

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment discusses the current debate over whether or not to unbundle Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and concludes that no regulatory or legislative decision can be made without careful consideration of the potential adverse environmental impacts of unbundling upon disadvantaged communities. Part I explains the concept of Distributed Generation, its history and its importance for the electrical utility industry, paying particular attention to renewable Distributed Generation. Next, it describes the role of the CPUC in the argument regarding REC bundling. This part also examines legislative efforts undertaken to deal with the evolving relationship between renewable energy generators, Distributed Generators and …

Protecting Solar Access: Preventing A Potential Problem, Robert M. Wagman

Golden Gate University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Creating A Legal Framework For Regulation Of Natural Gas Extraction From The Marcellus Shale Formation, Laura C. Reeder

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

Equity In Policy: Failure And Opportunity, Henry Vaux Jr.

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Energy Independence And Climate Change: The Economic And National Security Consequences Of Failing To Act, Mark E. Rosen

University of Richmond Law Review

This article draws heavily from the works of the CNA MAB, namely the twin and interrelated challenges arising from imprudent reliance on fossil fuels by developed and developing countries, as well as the serious environmental and national security"externalities" that directly result from current consumptive trends.