Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Availability Model To Evaluate Ai Data Centers’ Role In Grid Stability, Troy Mcsimov, Trevor S. Kunz, Jeffrey Billo

SMU Data Science Review

The United States has made it clear; it is imperative that the US wins the global AI race. This paper focuses on one of the most challenging puzzle pieces surfaced at the POWER Data Center conference (San Antonio, Sept. 30.); for Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) the limiting factor is not generation alone but the need to balance generation and load to preserve grid reliability.

The regulatory landscape fundamentally changed with the passage of Texas Senate Bill 6 in June 2025, which mandates new large loads must "contribute to the recovery of the interconnecting electric utility’s costs" (Texas Legislature, …

The Meaning Of "Other Minerals" And Other Incidents Of Mineral Ownership, Monika U. Ehrman, Colton Franks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Of all the contracts used in the oil and gas industry, none is as important as the oil and gas lease. It is the foundational instrument in oil and gas and a required prerequisite to development for those who do not own the mineral estate. Its uniqueness arises in that, unlike most other oil and gas contracts, it is both a contract and a conveyance of property. Part I of this article begins with an overview of the mineral estate, the predecessor to an oil and gas lease. Part II examines theories of oil and gas rights ownership and oil …

The Real Story Of Nepa Litigation In Clean Energy Permitting, Anna Mance

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Environmental protections and the processes of the administrative state are under attack. In recent years, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) has drawn outsized criticism from across the political and legal spectrum as a major impediment to climate friendly infrastructure and the clean energy transition. NEPA enables private groups to challenge development through litigation. Critics are moving to strip public oversight over federal permitting based on claims that these private groups bring largely frivolous environmental claims to court, driving up costs for developers and delaying progress responding to climate change. But is this really true?

Drawing on an original dataset …

International Energy And Natural Resources, Petra Stewart, Mauricio Becerra De La Roca Donoso, Mario Ballivian, Mathias Dantin, Kevin Haroff, Kingsley Osei, Leonardo Sempertegui, Ricardo Alves Silva, Sara Frazão

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

International Energy And Natural Resources, Petra Stewart, Mariana Ardizzone, Tony Wassaf, Mauricio Becerra De La Roca Donoso, João Otávio Pinheiro Olivério, Mathias Dantin, Leonardo Sempertegui, Ricardo Alves Silva, Sara Frazão, Caryl Ben Basat

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

North American Energy In The Crossfire, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

North America is the beating heart of global energy markets undergoing a terrible energy crisis that threatens to upend both the economy and global security. The clearest path out of this global crisis is increasing energy supplies from North America, which can restore energy security and drive a transition to cleaner energy sources. The U.S., Mexico, and Canada have abundant and varied resources to surmount this challenge but are in dire need of stronger cooperation across borders, and between private and public actors to achieve this goal. This Article shows how energy law changes in the U.S. and Mexico present …

Paying For Energy Peaks: Learning From Texas' February 2021 Power Crisis, Colleen M. Baker, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

From February 14–19, 2021, winter storm Uri blanketed Texas with extreme cold. Tragically, the severe temperatures overwhelmed the state’s power system. Texas’ power grid ended up more than 20 Gigawatts short of the electricity Texans needed 2 – more power than all of California produces on an average day. Over two-hundred lives were lost3 and an estimated $295 billion in damage resulted.4 Yet many had long regarded Texas’ electric power system, and its regulation, as a model for others. What happened? That question is the focus of this article. This article first provides an overview of the severe power outages …

Deep In The Heart Of North America: Texas And The Future Of North American Energy Trade, Guillermo J. Garcia Sanchez, James W. Coleman

Mission Foods Texas-Mexico Center Research

Texas, the heart of North American energy markets, has recently emerged from history’s biggest oil boom, and is becoming the crossroads for an increasingly two-way trade in oil and gas. Texas and Mexico, in particular have much to gain from expanded energy trade. This report shows how energy law changes in the U.S. and Mexico present under-studied dangers to cross-border energy trade and will set an agenda for legal reform to enable mutually beneficial fuel and power trade.

International Energy And Natural Resources Law, Kristin Drecktrah Paz, Mariana Ardizzone, Ricardo A. Silva, Sara Frazao, Mauricio Becerra De La Roca Donoso, Joao Otavio Pinheiro Oliverio, Jehmal T. Hudson, Leonardo Sempertegui, Ariel Cohen

The Year in Review

No abstract provided.

The Third Age Of Oil And Gas Law, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

History’s biggest oil boom is happening right now, in the United States, ushering in the third age of oil and gas law. The first age of oil and gas law also began in the United States a century ago when landowners and oil companies developed the oil and gas lease. The lease made the modern oil and gas industry possible and soon spread as the model for development around the world. In the second age of oil and gas law, landowners and nations across the globe developed new legal agreements that improved upon the lease and won these resource owners …

Energy And Eminent Domain, James W. Coleman, Alexandra B. Klass

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article examines the growing opposition to the use of eminent domain for energy transport projects such as oil pipelines, gas pipelines, and electric transmission lines. Such projects were protected from the state legislative reforms that restricted eminent domain following the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in Kelo v. City of New London in 2005 but are now under increased scrutiny. This Article evaluates why U.S. energy transport projects have become so controversial and suggests how states and the federal government should evaluate the need for eminent domain for these projects and enact appropriate reforms. We first detail the significant changes …

Pipelines & Power-Lines: Building The Energy Transport Future, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The United States is in the middle of three profound energy revolutions — with booming production of renewable power, natural gas, and oil. The country is replacing coal power with renewable and natural gas power, reducing pollution while saving consumers money. And it has dramatically cut its oil imports while becoming, for the first time in half a century, an important oil exporter. The U.S. is on the cusp of an energy transformation that will provide immense economic and environmental benefits.

This new energy economy will require massive investment in energy transport — especially power lines to bring wind and …

Energy Competition: From Commodity To Boutique & Back, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Energy products such as power, gas, and oil have long been the world’s premier commodities. Consumers demand that power and fuel are available when they want it and they prefer to pay less for it. Few know or care where their fuel or power comes from. So for years energy companies believed that efforts to differentiate their products were mostly ineffective — they were re-signed to compete on price in fierce global commodity markets. But in recent years, a new focus on regulating how energy commodities are produced has begun to splinter previously integrated energy markets, creating markets for boutique …

International Energy And Natural Resources, Kristin Drecktrah Paz, Mariana Ardizzone, Ricardo A. Silva, Sara Frazao, Mauricio Becerra De La Roca Donoso, Joao Otavio Pinheiro Oliverio, Jehmal T. Hudson, Leonardo Sempertegui, Ariel Cohen

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Mexico, T. Matthew Hansen, Eduardo Isaias Riviera Rodriguez, Alonso Gonzalez-Villalobos, Paulina Aguilar Cervantes, Michell Nader, Jose Sifuentes, Garardo Calderon-Villegas, Isaac Shefer, Stefano De Luca, Maria Cadelaria Pelayo Torres, Evangelina Flores Preciado, Alicia Vicente Rodriguez, Maria Erika Cardenas Briseno, Juan Pablo Venegas Contreras

The International Lawyer

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 …

Public-Private Financed Road Infrastructure Development In North-Central Region Of Nigeria, Adamu Mudi, John S. Lowe, David Manase

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The development and provision of road infrastructure in Nigeria has primarily been through the traditional forms of procurement strategies by the federal, state and local governments through budgetary allocations and door-financed loans and grants this thereby leaves the Nigerian road sector in a precarious situation. In recent time, with the demand for more road infrastructure arising from the population explosion and urban-ruralmigration coupled with the financial crisis experienced by the Federal Government resulting from globaleconomic and financial crisis the Federal Government of Nigeria therefore sought to involve the private sectors in the development of road infrastructure facilities via Public-Private Partnerships …

Importing Energy, Exporting Regulation, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article identifies and addresses a growing contradiction at the heart of United States energy policy. States are the traditional energy regulators and energy policy innovators — a role that has only grown more important without a settled federal climate policy. But federal regulators and market pressures are increasingly demanding integrated national and international energy markets. Deregulation, the rise of renewable energy, the shale revolution, and new sources of motor fuel precursors like crude and ethanol have all increased interstate energy trade.

The Article shows how integrated national energy markets are driving states to regulate imported fuel and electricity based …

Unilateral Climate Regulation, James W. Coleman

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

It is now plain that decades of negotiation toward a binding global climate treaty have failed. Yet, at the same time, many nations are adopting a range of unilateral policies to address climate change. The existing literature on climate policy neglects these unilateral climate regulations because it focuses on the necessity and possible design of a multilateral climate treaty. But these domestic regulations present a unique puzzle: given that climate outcomes are determined by global emissions, and that unilateral regulations inevitably influence incentives to regulate elsewhere, how can domestic action achieve the greatest marginal reduction in global emissions? In other …

Principles Of Energy Policy, John S. Lowe

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Energy policy has been at the center of American political rhetoric since the early 1970s. Twenty years, five presidents and ten Congresses later, however, the United States still has no coherent energy policy. Why has development of a coherent energy policy proved so difficult for the United States, when other democratic nations have been able to move so much faster?

The author suggests that the root of the problem has been an attitude, an expectation of plenty. When colonists first came to what is now the United States, they found a new world with what seemed to them infinite amounts …

Part Ii: Contract Issues In The Changing Energy Industry: Introductory Remarks And Outline Of Hypothetical Problem, John S. Lowe

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Severance Taxes As An Issue Of Energy Sectionalism, John S. Lowe

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The legal system in the United States is a part of a broader, federal political system. Like the policeman on the beat, the role of the federal courts and Congress in disputes between the states is as much to deter anti-social behavior as to intervene to impose order. One function of the legal, administrative and legislative processes is to give the disputants time to reconsider their positions and compromise their goals, to reflect upon their long-term interests, and to consider the wisdom of avoiding a clear-cut determination of winners and losers. In the context of energy severance taxes, these processes …