Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 8 of 8
Full-Text Articles in Law
Clean Power Policy In The United States, Joseph P. Tomain
Clean Power Policy In The United States, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Within the last year, the Obama administration has taken two significant and dramatic steps addressing the challenges of climate change and demonstrating a renewed leadership role for the US. First, as a signatory to the Paris climate agreements, the US has stepped forward to participate in that global effort after years of recalcitrance. The US, for example, signed the Rio Declaration in 1992 but five years later would not ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Now, though, the US has reversed course and has reentered the international climate conversation.
The second significant climate initiative came on the domestic front as the …
Shale Gas And Clean Energy Policy, Joseph P. Tomain
Shale Gas And Clean Energy Policy, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
If we look behind the numbers on energy consumption, how much of that declining consumption is attributable to increases in energy efficiency and how much is attributable to a poor economy? If we look more closely at shale gas production, particularly when we consider hydraulic fracturing, what environmental costs are associated with developing this domestic resource? And, from a broader perspective, what role should natural gas, including shale gas, play in the country's clean energy future? Will we continue to favor fossil-fuel incumbents at the expense of new entrants in renewable resources and energy efficiency? This Article will address these …
Our Generation's Sputnik Moment: Regulating Energy Innovation, Joseph P. Tomain
Our Generation's Sputnik Moment: Regulating Energy Innovation, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama stressed the necessity of innovation as the key to unlocking our economic future. More pointedly, he stated that now is "our generation's Sputnik moment." Just as the United States responded to national security threats posed by a cold war Russia, today we must respond to threats to our economy and our environment, as well as to our national security, posed by an oil addiction that we have not been able to break for over half a century. The intertwined needs to provide sufficient energy, environmental protection, and a vibrant economy …
To A Point, Joseph P. Tomain
To A Point, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
For over a century, the United States has operated under a consistent energy policy that has served the country well. Our Traditional Energy policy is based on three economic assumptions: private capital and markets create wealth and stimulate innovation; there is a direct and positive correlation between energy production and economic productivity; and economies of scale will enable us to produce more energy at lower cost. Events over the last four decades, however, have given cause to question that Traditional Energy policy. The damage from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita helped focus that questioning. Increasingly over that period, national and international …
Smart Energy Paths: How Willie Nelson Saved The Planet, Joseph P. Tomain
Smart Energy Paths: How Willie Nelson Saved The Planet, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
In examining the need to move away from traditional energy policy and toward Smart Energy, the article draws a connection between physicist Amory Lovins and singer Willie Nelson. Both believe that our country's century-old traditional energy policy no longer meets our needs. Rather, they feel that such an antiquated policy ignores the challenges that the country and the world face today. Smart Energy is not only a promising vision of the future, it is the only realistic vision. It is pro-growth, because it promotes the development of new industries and new technologies. Smart Energy is protective of the environment by …
Distributional Consquences Of Environmental Regulation: Economics, Politics, And Environmental Policymaking, Joseph P. Tomain
Distributional Consquences Of Environmental Regulation: Economics, Politics, And Environmental Policymaking, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
In this article, environmental policymaking methods are explored through a fictional rediscovery in April 22, 2170 of two documents from 1991. One of the documents presents the background assumptions and technical concepts needed to design an environmental policy for the Town of Lawrenceville. The other document presents the Town of Lawrenceville with a discussion of the distributional consequences of three distinct and perhaps complementary environmental programs. The discussion of each program presents the likely distribution of benefits and costs. Each discussion concludes by speculating on the overall efficiency of the program. The recommendation is to submit the three environmental programs …
The Dominant Model Of United States Energy Policy, Joseph P. Tomain
The Dominant Model Of United States Energy Policy, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Conventional wisdom has it that the United States has no coherent and comprehensive national energy policy.! This notion persists despite the fact that Congress requires the President to submit to it, biannually, a national energy plan.2 Like all catechisms, this belief is partially true and partially false, depending upon one's perspective. The better statement about U.S. energy policy is that it is kaleidoscopic. If one concentrates on one portion of a kaleidoscope, shapes, colors and images appear chaotic. So, too, does energy policy if one examines only one segment of the policymaking process, as does an analyst who concentrates on …
The Rule Of Capture: Government And The Oil Industry, Joseph P. Tomain
The Rule Of Capture: Government And The Oil Industry, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
The Oil Follies of 1970-1980 by Robert Sherrill, is a broad account of an important decade for energy law and politics. In a capsule review of the book, I noted that it is a journalistic, rather than an academic, look at the theory of capture as a way of talking about government regulation. Because Sherrill was writing for a predominantly lay audience, he did not undertake a systematic and rigorous analysis of the legal regulations concerning the petroleum industry. Nevertheless, his book does provoke a serious question: Is Big Oil bad, and if so, how should government regulate it? This …