Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Clogging The Pipeline: Exploring The D.C. Circuit's Improper Segmentation Analysis In Delaware Riverkeeper Network V. Ferc, Mary-Kaitlin E. Rigney

American University Law Review

Technological advancement in drilling techniques, primarily hydraulic fracturing, has provided access to previously unreachable natural gas reserves. Much of this increase in natural gas production is derived from the Marcellus Shale, a shale formation that spans Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and New York. This surge in natural gas production has prompted natural gas pipeline companies to upgrade their pipeline networks. Pipeline companies must apply for certificates of public convenience and necessity from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and, if approved, perform an environmental evaluation, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In examining the environmental impacts of …

Illinois’S Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act: A Successful Compromise, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 315 (2015), Jennifer Cassel

UIC Law Review

This article briefly discusses the history of legislative action and negotiations that led up to the negotiation and promulgation of the Illinois Hydraulic Fracturing Regulatory Act (the Act) in June 2013. It also summarizes and discusses numerous provisions in the Act that were of particular interest to environmental groups engaged in negotiating the Act, as well as the Act’s implementing regulations finalized in November 2014. Finally, it provides a brief discussion of the status of fracking activity in Illinois right now and a forecast for the near future.

The Role Of Natural Gas In The Clean Power Plan, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 325 (2015), Lincoln Davies, Victoria Luman

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fracking: The Unconventional Energy Response To Climate Change: Implications For The Real Estate Industry, 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 449 (2015), Celeste Hammond

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Underbalanced Drilling: Can It Solve The Economic, Environmental And Regulatory Taking Problems Associated With Fracking? 49 J. Marshall L. Rev. 511 (2015), Richard Roddewig, W. James Hughes

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United State, Jason J. Czarnezki, Siu Tip Lam, Nadia B. Ahmad

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Calibrating Liquefied Natural Gas Export Life Cycle Assessment: Accounting For Legal Boundaries And Post-Export Markets, James W. Coleman, Adebola Kasumu, Jeanne Liendo, Vivian Li, Sarah Marie Jordaan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The climate impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export from North America is one of the most pressing questions for Canadian and world energy policy today. This paper performs the first life cycle assessment (LCA) of the greenhouse gas emissions from LNG exports from Canada, assuming that importing countries use the natural gas for electricity generation. It shows that the climate impact of LNG depends on where it is sent. If LNG from Canada displaces electricity in coal-dependent countries, it will likely lower global greenhouse gas emissions. If it displaces electricity from countries that rely on low carbon sources such …

Fighting Fire With Fire: How Developing Geothermal Energy Plants On U.S. Protected Land Will Minimize The Effects Of Global Warning, Joseph B. Rinaldi

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

The Clean Power Plan: An Introduction To Cooperative Federalism In Energy Regulation, Tina Calilung

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Energy Consumption Data: The Key To Improved Energy Efficiency, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth J. Wilson

San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law

This Article explores recent efforts that federal, state, and local governments have taken to create regulatory frameworks to collect energy consumption data and make it available to consumers and, in some cases, to the public. Part II explains the nature of energy consumption data, the problems with not having such data readily available to consumers and policymakers, and the benefits associated with making it available to a wider range of potential users. Part III explores developing federal, state, and local policies governing energy consumption data, including how policymakers have attempted to address some of the privacy and other concerns associated …

What’S Worse, Nuclear Waste Or The United States’ Failed Policy For Its Disposal?, Christopher M. Keegan

Law Student Publications

This comment will analyze the SNF ("spent nuclear fuel") problem in the United States and offer recommendations for how to move forward. First, Part I will summarize the path that has led to this impasse. Part II offers recommended solutions on how the United States can develop a workable SNF solution that includes a permanent repository, consolidated intermediate storage, and reprocessing. Finally, this comment will offer its conclusion that the United States should begin the process of establishing a permanent geologic repository for SNF at a location other than Yucca Mountain, create a system of consolidated interim storage to temporarily …

Front Matter, Natural Resources Journal

Natural Resources Journal

No abstract provided.

A Primer: Air And Water Environmental Quality Standards In The United States, Jason J. Czarnezki

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article, designed as a resource for environmental law professors both domestically and abroad, addresses how environmental quality standards are created, implemented, and enforced in the United States. The answers to these questions are useful to those teaching U.S. environmental law and international scholars, especially in the European Union, who are faced with the challenge of creating new environmental quality standards under both national and EU directives. It must be noted that this project is complicated by the federal system within the country, and, thus, attention must be devoted to the federal-state relationship. In fact, the major relevant statutes, the …

The Democratization Of Energy, Joseph P. Tomain

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The electricity industry is changing in dramatic ways. Most significantly, as demonstrated by the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan, the country is witnessing the merger of energy and environmental regulation. Historically, energy regulation was driven by the need to produce more power for economic growth. By contrast, environmental regulation attended to the pollution of the environment. Production of energy depends upon the use of natural resources, and throughout the fuel cycle from extraction and transportation to the burning and disposal of those resources, the environment is directly affected. Most dramatically, greenhouse gas emissions present climate change challenges. In order to …

Compromise In Colorado: Solar Net Metering And The Case For "Renewable Avoided Cost", Alexander D. White

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fukushima's Shadow, Lincoln L. Davies, Alexis Jones

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The March 11, 2011 tragedy at the Fukushima Daiichi power station in Japan immediately etched its place in history as arguably the most noteworthy of the three nuclear energy disasters to date. This Article surveys the response to Fukushima both in Japan and worldwide. It observes that rather than stopping what many thought was a burgeoning "nuclear renaissance," the global policy reaction post-Fukushima was more varied. Using the examples of Germany, the United States, and China, the Article examines the three general approaches to nuclear energy that nations have followed since Fukushima: abandonment, status quo, and expansion. The Article then …

The Role Of Strategic Environmental Assessments In Improving The Governance Of Emerging New Industries: A Case Study Of Wind Developments In Nova Scotia, Meinhard Doelle, Rebecca Critchley

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article explores the potential for strategic environmental assessments to enhance project decisions. It does so by taking a retrospective look at Wind energy project decisions in Nova Scotia in the past 15 years, decisions that have been made in the absence of a strategic environmental assessment. The study considers both individual project approvals and two contrasting municipal responses to the emergence of the industry.

The aim of the retrospective is to identify the key challenges this industry faced in establishing itself in Nova Scotia. The article then considers to what extent the challenges could have been avoided through the …

The Role Of Strategic Environmental Assessments (Seas) In Energy Governance: A Case Study Of Tidal Energy In Nova Scotia's Bay Of Fundy, Meinhard Doelle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The article considers the role of strategic environmental assessments in improving decision making by government decision makers faced with the arrival of a new industry to its jurisdiction. It uses using the arrival of the in stream tidal energy industry in Nova Scotia as a case study. The article first considers the existing federal and provincial regulatory context for decisions about whether, where and under what conditions to approve tidal energy projects in the Bay of Fundy region. It then provides an overview of a strategic environmental assessment carried out on behalf of the province of Nova Scotia in 2007/2008, …

The Political Economy Of Environmental Justice: A Comparative Study Of New Delhi And Los Angeles, Ratik Asokan

CMC Senior Theses

Though mainstream environmentalism, both in the U.S. and India, was initially rooted in social justice, it has, over time, moved away from this focus. The Environmental Justice Movement consequently arose to reunite social and environmental activism. In this thesis, I trace the historical relationship between the mainstream environmentalism, the Environmental Justice Movement, and marginalized communities. After providing this general overview, I examine two case studies – in Los Angeles and New Delhi respectively – where marginalized communities have been involved in Environmental Justice activities. My analysis reveals that marginalized communities often act in an ‘environmentalist’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ manner, without …

Environmental Privacy, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article looks to nuisance doctrine, surveillance under environmental statutes, and Fourth Amendment cases arising in implementation of fish and game laws (the hunter enforcement cases) to better understand our experience, to date, balancing the need for environmental information with privacy. Section A analyzes common law nuisance and its relationship to individual privacy concerns and concludes that the law affords little *7 value to or protection of privacy in the context of at least one type of environmental externality -- conduct that gives rise to a common law nuisance. Recognizing that most environmentally significant individual behaviors do not constitute a …

Defining Power Property Expectations, Michael Pappas

Publications

No abstract provided.