Law Commons^™

Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

Mitigating The Impacts Of The Renewable Energy Gold Rush, Amy Wilson Morris, Jessica Owley

Articles

No abstract provided.

Completing The Energy Innovation Cycle: The View From The Public Utility Commission, Jonas J. Monast, Sarah K. Adair

Faculty Scholarship

Achieving widespread adoption of innovative electricity generation technologies involves a complex system of research, development, demonstration, and deployment, with each phase then informing future developments. Despite a number of non-regulatory programs at the federal level to support this process, the innovation premium—the increased cost and technology risk often associated with innovative generation technologies—creates hurdles in the state public utility commission (“PUC”) process. These state level regulatory hurdles have the potential to frustrate federal energy goals and prevent the learning process that is a critical component to technology innovation. This Article explores how and why innovative energy technologies face challenges in …

Designing Co2 Performance Standards For A Transitioning Electricity Sector: A Multi-Benefits Framework, Jonas J. Monast, David Hoppock

Faculty Scholarship

A significant transition is underway within the electricity sector due to several market forces, retirement of certain plants, and regulatory pressures. There is notable overlap between available strategies for mitigating electricity sector risks and potential compliance strategies for states under the Clean Power Plan. This overlap presents regulators with an opportunity to pursue strategies that help manage the transition occurring in the electricity sector and achieve greenhouse gas reductions required under the Clean Power Plan, particularly in the areas of end-use energy efficiency and additional renewable power generation.

Energy Versus Property, Michael Pappas

Faculty Scholarship

This article is the first to detail the balance legislatures and courts have struck between private property rights and the compelling public interest in energy production. By examining how property rights have consistently yielded to energy development from colonial times to the most recent decisions involving hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), it identifies a coherent energy/property balance that has shaped property expectations to accommodate energy needs. The article then applies this insight to current disputes pitting aggressive renewable energy policies— such as nuisance immunity or mandatory installations on private property— against fundamental property expectations— the right to exclude and the right to …

Green Siting For Green Energy, Amy Wilson Morris, Jessica Owley, Emily Capello

Articles

No abstract provided.

Addressing Wind Power Intermittency In The Ercot And Spp Regions, Elizabeth Drews, Cedric Ireland, Neil Yallabandi

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article explores efforts to address challenges involving wind power intermittency in two United States power regions: the South- west Power Pool (“SPP”) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”). SPP and ERCOT are good case studies regarding these issues because each has among the strongest wind resources in the country, most of which are in isolated, sparsely populated areas and need long transmission lines to reach major load (electricity consumption) centers. Those circumstances increase the challenge of integrating intermittent wind generation into the electric system (grid).

A Turquoise Mess: Green Subsidies, Blue Industrial Policy And Renewable Energy: The Case For Redrafting The Subsidies Agreement Of The Wto, Aaron Cosbey, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

Canada-Renewable Energy presented the WTO Panel and Appellate Body (AB) with a novel issue: at the heart of the dispute was a measure adopted by the province of Ontario whereby producers of renewable energy would be paid a premium relative to conventional power producers. Some WTO Members complained that the measure was a prohibited subsidy because payments were conditional upon using Canadian equipment for the production of renewable energy. The AB gave them right only in part: it found that a local content requirement had indeed been imposed, but also found that it lacked evidence to determine whether a subsidy …

Sustainability Criteria As A Tool To Promote Sustainable Products And Their Sustainable Production, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Coming publication

Summary:

Among the environmental challenges, which humanity is facing today, there are the threat of global climate change, unsatisfactory air quality, – especially in large cities, – and the fact that the resources of fossil fuels are finite. Biofuels have long been at the top of the political and scientific agenda as a possible solution to all the three challenges.

Not everything is clear about biofuels. The production costs of biofuels are still higher than those of traditional fossil fuels: without subsidies biofuels are not competitive. The environmental impact of biofuels has also been questioned, for example the …

Analysis Of The Mechanisms To Control The Fulfillment Of The Eu Sustainability Criteria For Biofuels In Directive 2009/28/Ec, (Part Ii), Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

The article analyzes mechanisms established to control the fulfillment of the EU sustainability criteria for biofuels that were presented in Directive 2009/28/EC. The article is the continuation of the research started in the work Pavlovskaia, E. (2013) “Controlling the Fulfillment of the EU Sustainability Criteria for Transport Biofuels”, which was published in RELP 4/2013. The conducted analysis is grounded in the opinions of the leading researchers in the environmental energy studies. The results of the article highlight that there are difficulties to achieve the desirable quality of control when the EU sustainability criteria are implemented. It is pointed out that …

Mechanisms To Control The Fulfillment Of The Eu Sustainability Criteria For Transport Biofuels In Directive 2009/28/Ec, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

To function efficiently, a framework in environmental law should contain certain mechanisms or supplementary elements that facilitate the implementation and enforcement of environmental regulations, for example such mechanisms and elements that answer for the control and supervision of the legislated requirements. Appropriately organized control mechanisms are important for a legal framework to function as it has been aimed for and to fulfill its purposes. The present article is focused on the analysis of the mechanisms chosen to control the fulfillment of the European Union (EU) sustainability criteria for transport biofuels, which have been presented in Directive 2009/28/EC. The analysis is …

The Next Great Compromise: A Comprehensive Response To Opposition Against Shale Gas Development Using Hydraulic Fracturing In The United States, Monika Ehrman

Monika U. Ehrman

Lights Out In The Bakken: An Analysis Of Flaring Regulation And Its Potential Effect On North Dakota Shale Oil Production

Monika U. Ehrman

Legal Analysis Of The Eu Policy For Sustainable Transport Biofuels, Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Evgenia Pavlovskaia

Warnings about limited oil resources, as well as the necessity to reduce GHG emissions and secure energy supply1 have become prioritized issues on the EU agenda. It has been suggested to partially replace traditional fossil fuels with other sources of renewable energy, for example with biofuels in the transport sector. This has been seen as a promising solution for complications connected with the extraction and supply of oil, as well as for the reduction of GHG emissions. It has also become understandable that the quality of biofuels and their production methods need to be sustainable. The material, from which biofuels …

Carbon Capture And The Information Quality Act, Brendan Burke

Brendan Burke

In January 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a proposed new source performance standard (NSPS) under the Clean Air Act for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new or modified electric utility plants that will effectively require implementation of a process known as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The new rule would limit CO2, a previously unregulated greenhouse gas emission, from such generation facilities to a rate of 1,100 pounds per megawatt-hour. Energy producers, especially those employing coal-fired plants, are strongly opposed to these limits. In February 2014, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness sent a letter to the EPA …

Behavioral Approaches To Environmental Policy Analysis: A Case Study Of Offshore Wind Energy In The North American Great Lakes, Erik Edward Nordman

Erik Edward Nordman

Behavioral economics, including prospect theory, offers new approaches to environmental policy analysis. The utility of behavioral approaches to environmental policy analysis is illustrated using a case study of offshore wind energy policy in Michigan, USA. Michigan has attempted to clarify the permitting process for offshore wind energy but those efforts have failed. Prospect theory suggests that Michigan legislators are, for the most part, risk averse to policy reforms as the state emerges from its “one-state recession” and into a gains domain. Legislators from some coastal districts perceive offshore wind development as a threat to coastal quality of life, are risk-seeking …

Risk Tradeoff Analysis, Public Opinion And Nuclear Safety: A Spanish Case Study, Xiao Recio-Blanco

Xiao Recio-Blanco

The 2011 nuclear accident at Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant opened a heated worldwide debate over nuclear energy. Unfortunately, neither the previous nor current Spanish governments have publicized the evidence used to evaluate the merits of extending the lifespan of Spain’s own Garoña plant. This article uses the Garoña case for a twofold purpose. First, the article analyzes the accountability of Spain’s executive power decisions on potentially catastrophic industrial activities. The paper finds that the lack of appropriate information disclosure duties in Spain may allow the government to abuse its discretion on actions potentially damaging to human health and the environment. …

Public Lands And The Federal Government’S Compact-Based “Duty To Dispose”: A Case Study Of Utah’S H.B. 148 – The Transfer Of Public Lands Act, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Recent legislation passed in March 2012 in the State of Utah — the “Transfer of Public Lands Act and Related Study,” (“TPLA”) also commonly referred to as House Bill 148 (“H.B. 148”) — has demanded that the federal government, by December 31, 2014, “extinguish title” to certain public lands that the federal government currently holds (totaling an estimated more than 20 million acres). It also calls for the transfer of such acreage to the State and establishes procedures for the development of a management regime for this increased state portfolio of land holdings resulting from the transfer. The State of …