Law Commons^™

Energy-Efficiency: The Best Option For A Secure, Clean, Healthy Future, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The risks of dependence on traditional fuels have never been greater or more obvious. Modern civilization and the world economy are facing imminent and clear threats of worldwide terrorism. The oil producing countries of the Middle East are increasingly unstable, confronting the world with potentially calamitous energy and economic disruptions. Domestically, our limited refining capacity creates shortages when demand is high and increases prices even when petroleum supplies are plentiful. Yet most of the world is in a state of denial, happy to bask in the illusory security of temporary Saudi oil production increases. Moreover, these new dangers sit on …

Fuel Efficiency: The Disconnect Between Environmental Policy And Tax Policy, John J. Marciano

ExpressO

The recent high gas prices in America have intensified the debate over oil and gas efficiency, use, and reserves. As the national average for a gallon tops $2.10, Congress and the President strive to find a common position to foster energy independence, protect the environment, and bolster the struggling economy.

President Bush’s energy policy and recent Senate and House bills have not contemplated their effects on the environmental state of our nation or its impact on the internal revenue code. In this time of uncertainty, energy independence and measured use of resources may be at odds, but must we stray …

Federal Permitting Issues Related To Offshore Wind Energy, Using The Cape Wind Project In Massachusetts As An Illustration, Thomas A. Utzinger

ExpressO

Cape Wind Associates, LLC in Massachusetts intends to build a 130-turbine wind park off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in federal waters. The wind park would generate an average output great enough to power about three-quarters of the Cape’s energy needs.

Construction of this project required two permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: one for a single data tower, and one for the overall wind park. To date, the Corps has granted the data tower permit. This has been the subject of litigation in Massachusetts state and federal courts. The Corps is also conducting a lengthy environmental review of …

Assessing The Options For Designing A Mandatory U.S. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program, Robert R. Nordhaus, Kyle W. Danish

ExpressO

The United States faces growing pressure – both from domestic and international sources – to adopt a mandatory greenhouse gas reduction program to address the risk of global climate change. If policy-makers decide to establish such a program, they could end up creating an environmental regulatory regime of potentially unprecedented scope and impacts. A domestic greenhouse gas program could break ground in other ways too. Many policy-makers are considering innovative market-based approaches to regulation, including a multi-billion dollar economy-wide “cap-and-trade” program. In this paper, we: (1) set forth criteria for evaluating program options; (2) analyze the leading design options and …

Difused Surface Water: Reasonable Use Has Become The Common Enemy, Wendy B. Davis

ExpressO

Diffused surface water, caused by precipitation, should be treated as a necessary asset to replenish aquifers used for drinking water, and not as waste to be disposed of by landowners. Groundwater aquifers were created, and can only be replenished, by precipitation that is allowed to seep underground. Ninety-nine percent of the drinking water for people in rural areas of America comes from groundwater aquifers. These aquifers are in danger of being contaminated or depleted, which could result in severe water shortages very soon. Legislators have failed to enact a comprehensive system to regulate the use of aquifers, relying instead on …

Renewable Energy Sources For Development, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Renewable energy resources hold great promise for meeting the energy and development needs of countries throughout the world. This promise is particularly strong for developing countries where many regions have not yet committed to fossil fuel dominance. Solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies are particularly advantageous for serving the two billion people in rural areas without grid electricity. Modern biomass energy is attractive because it uses locally available agricultural wastes. Wind energy and small hydroelectric resources also are mature technologies well suited to developing countries. Such renewable resources are far more economical than traditional energy resources, especially where the costs …

Global Climate Change Kyoto Protocol Implementation: Legal Frameworks For Implementing Clean Energy Solutions, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This paper describes the measures that have been and can be taken and the legal mechanisms by which successes have been achieved in reducing greenhouse gases. Examples are given of success stories from around the world, but these examples are just demonstrative. Many hundreds of programs have been pursued successfully around the world in both industrial and developing countries. What does emerge, however, is clear evidence that global warming can be effectively addressed and that many significant steps have been taken profitably in both the public and private sectors, offering significant business, export and job opportunities, and that much can …

Energy And Environmental Challenges For Developed And Developing Countries, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Energy for development utilizing traditional supply investments, estimated to cost $1.4 - $4 trillion through 2010, will be unaffordable both for recipients and lenders. The capital required, even if obtainable, would squeeze out capital for all other development requirements and would pose unacceptable environmental and cleanup costs. Upgrading existing energy supply systems would cost a fraction of new supply. Energy efficiency and environmentally benign renewables can at least halve new supply capital requirements and avoid their environmental costs. Least cost planning by lenders and recipients, on the basis of total system life cycle costs, for both energy and non-energy related …

Least-Cost Utility Planning And Demand-Side Management: A Bibliography, Richard L. Ottinger

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Pace Energy Project has undertaken to compile this annotated bibliography of books, articles and other research materials devoted to least-cost utility planning and demand-side management. This introduction describes the organization and methodology of the bibliography. To aid the user who may be unfamiliar with this field, these remarks also survey the factual background underlying the issues in each subsection of the bibliography, and the interrelationships between these utility reform issues.

Cogeneration: A Successful Response To The Energy Crisis?, Charles M. Pratt

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article examines the concept of cogeneration, a term for the simultaneous production of both electricity and other useful energy in a single facility by a cascading use of heat energy. It analyzes the rise of cogeneration through the lens of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 ("PURPA"), enacted by Congress to improve the distribution of electric energy and encourage the conservation of resources, as well as the efforts of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") to encourage cogeneration. This article discusses a number of the issues raised and left unresolved by this federal policy of encouraging the …

Cogeneration: A Successful Response To The Energy Crisis?, Charles M. Pratt

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article examines the concept of cogeneration, a term for the simultaneous production of both electricity and other useful energy in a single facility by a cascading use of heat energy. It analyzes the rise of cogeneration through the lens of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 ("PURPA"), enacted by Congress to improve the distribution of electric energy and encourage the conservation of resources, as well as the efforts of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") to encourage cogeneration. This article discusses a number of the issues raised and left unresolved by this federal policy of encouraging the …

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Coporation V. Natural Resources Defense Council (Nrdc), Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

In The Matter Of Consumers Power: Applying The Antitrust Laws To The Nuclear Electric Utility Industry, Andrew Popper

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.