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Dual Electricity Federalism Is Dead, But How Dead And What Replaces It?, Joel B. Eisen
Dual Electricity Federalism Is Dead, But How Dead And What Replaces It?, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
The Supreme Court decided three cases in the past year involving the split of jurisdiction between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the states in the energy sector: FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association, Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing and ONEOK v. Learjet. This Article concludes that these watershed decisions herald a new approach to governing the rapid evolution of the modern electric grid. Discussing the decisions, the analysis demonstrates that they mark the end of “dual federalism” in electricity law that treated federal and state regulators as operating within separate and distinct spheres of authority, and proposes that …
Can We Regulate Our Way To Energy Efficiency? Product Standards As Climate Policy, Noah M. Sachs
Can We Regulate Our Way To Energy Efficiency? Product Standards As Climate Policy, Noah M. Sachs
Law Faculty Publications
In this Article, I demonstrate that the regulatory strategy for energy efficiency is working. Although information disclosure, financial incentives, and other softer alternatives to regulation play a vital role in reducing energy demand, these should be viewed as complements to efficiency regulation, rather than replacements. The regulatory approach has led to substantial cost and energy savings in the past, it has enjoyed bipartisan political support, and it targets products and behaviors that are difficult to address through other policy tools. Given the politics of climate change in the United States, which make federal carbon taxes or a cap-and-trade system infeasible, …