Law Commons^™

Nuclear Power: Black Sky Liability Or Black Sky Asset?, Sherrell R. Greene

International Journal of Nuclear Security

Ready access to abundant electricity is a key enabler of modern life. During the past decade the vulnerability of Critical Infrastructure sectors in the U.S. to a variety of natural hazards and man-made threats has become increasingly apparent. The electrical infrastructure (the “Grid”) is the foundation for all other critical civil infrastructures upon which our society depends. Therefore, protection of the Grid is an energy security, homeland security, and national security issue of highest importance. Geomagnetic disturbances (GMD) induced by solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs), electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks, and cyber attacks are three events having the potential to plunge …

1912 - Report Of The Conservation Commission Of The State Of California

Miscellaneous Documents and Reports

The report prepared by the Conservation Commission of the State of California investigated and gathered data and information concerning forestry, water, the use of water, water power, electricity, electrical or other power, mines and mining, mineral and other lands, dredging, reclamation and irrigation, providing such information for the purpose of revising, systematizing and reforming the state laws pertaining to these subjects.

Demand Response And Market Power, Bruce R. Huber

Bruce R Huber

In her article, Bypassing Federalism and the Administrative Law of Negawatts, Sharon Jacobs educates her readers about the concept of demand response, and then describes its propagation in recent years while making the broader argument that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) — the federal government’s principal energy regulator — has engaged in a strategy of “bypassing federalism” that may entail more costs than benefits. Professor Jacobs is right to call attention to demand response and to FERC’s approach to matters of jurisdictional doubt. While I share many of her concerns about boundary lines in a federal system, I argue …

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission V. Electric Power Supply Association, Keatan J. Williams

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In a 6-2 opinion delivered by Justice Kagan, the United States Supreme Court upheld FERC Order No. 745, which regulates the prices that wholesale market operators pay for demand response bids. At issue in the case was whether this regulation exceeded FERC’s wholesale regulation authority under the Federal Power Act, thereby impinging on retail markets under state regulation, and whether the pricing regulations within the rule were chosen in an arbitrary and capricious manner. The Court held Order No. 745 withstood both challenges.

A Tale Of Three Markets: Comparing The Renewable Energy Experiences Of California, Texas, And Germany, Felix Mormann, Dan Reicher, Victor Hanna

Faculty Scholarship

The Obama administration has repeatedly identified the large-scale build-out of clean, renewable energy infrastructure as a key priority of the United States. The President’s calls for a cleaner energy economy are often accompanied by references to other industrialized countries such as Germany, hailed by many as a leader in renewable energy deployment. Indeed, the share of renewables in Germany’s electricity generation mix is twice that of the United States, and the ambitious “Energiewende” commits the country to meeting 80% of its electricity needs with renewables by 2050. While some praise the German renewables experience as successful proof of concept, others …

Ferc V. Epsa And The Path To A Cleaner Electricity Sector, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the impact of FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association, in which the Supreme Court upheld FERC’s demand response rule (Order 745) and confirmed FERC’s authority over “practices” “directly affecting” wholesale rates for electricity. It contends that the Supreme Court made a definitive pronouncement on FERC’s authority over end users of electricity who also provide resources back to the electric grid. It also contends that FERC v. EPSA marks the end of “dual federalism” in electricity law that treated federal and state jurisdiction as separate and distinct spheres of authority. Instead, it posits a new era of concurrent …

Stranded Costs And Grid Decarbonization, Emily Hammond, Jim Rossi

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

Over the past half century, energy law has endured many stranded cost experiments, each helping firms and customers adjust to a new normal. However, these past experiments have contributed to a myopic regulatory approach to past stranded cost recovery by: (1) endorsing a preference for addressing all stranded costs only after energy resource investment decisions have been made; and (2) fixating on the firm’s financial costs and protection of investors, rather than on the broader impacts of each on the energy system.

The current transition to decarbonization is already giving rise to stranded cost claims related to existing energy assets …

Energy Deference, Sharon B. Jacobs

Publications

Electricity law is complex, and the Supreme Court knows it. Lawyers are familiar with the adage that generalist courts tend to defer to agency decisions where the subject matter is complex or technical. But what features of a case make the Court more or less likely to defer to the agency's judgment? And how exactly do deference regimes work in the presence of complexity? This essay offers insights gleaned from Court's opinion in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Electric Power Supply Ass’n (“EPSA”). It explains, first, that Courts are highly deferential in energy cases due to both the complexity of …

Empowering Federal Regulation For A Changing Electricity Sector, Felix Mormann

Articles

No abstract provided.