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Articles 91 - 120 of 169
Full-Text Articles in Environmental Law
Carbon Pricing Initiatives In Western North America: Blueprint For Global Climate Change Policy, Nancy Shurtz
Carbon Pricing Initiatives In Western North America: Blueprint For Global Climate Change Policy, Nancy Shurtz
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
In the absence of effective international and federal initiatives to combat the impacts of global climate change, many state, local and regional jurisdictions are passing or proposing measures to curb carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The province of British Columbia, Canada, as well as the cities of San Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado have carbon taxes in place, and similar actions have been proposed in the Oregon and Washington state legislatures. The state of California and the province of Québec have linked together in a joint cap-and-trade system. This Article will examine the fundaments of carbon taxation, including identification of the …
Getting To Utility 2.0: Rebooting The Retail Electric Utility In The U.S., James M. Van Nostrand
Getting To Utility 2.0: Rebooting The Retail Electric Utility In The U.S., James M. Van Nostrand
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article examines the drivers for this perceived need to revisit the utility business model, focusing primarily on the declining cost of DG resources and the resilience benefits of DG resources in addressing the impact of future extreme weather events. Second, this article reviews the various “Utility 2.0” proceedings underway across the United States, and the common themes emerging from those proceedings. The third section of the Article discusses the possible approaches to a utility business model, based on experience in wholesale and retail electricity markets in the United States and Europe. Fourth, this Article will examine lessons learned regarding …
Promoting Clean Reliable Energy Through Smart Technologies And Policies: Lessons From Three Distributed Energy Case Studies, Samantha Ruiz, Katie R. Thomas, Kevin B. Jones
Promoting Clean Reliable Energy Through Smart Technologies And Policies: Lessons From Three Distributed Energy Case Studies, Samantha Ruiz, Katie R. Thomas, Kevin B. Jones
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
Following the blackout of the electric grid in the 1965 it was hypothesized that large central generation would lead to continued reliability problems. More recently, following Hurricane Sandy, there have been additional criticisms of the risks that large centralized electric systems face in terms of system restoration following catastrophic storms. Together these concerns have led some in the electric industry to conclude that bigger is not always better. In 2007, with the passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act, Congress initiated policy support for a smarter more distributed grid. Since then, utilities have begun to experiment with more distributed, …
Energy Consumption Data: The Key To Improved Energy Efficiency, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth J. Wilson
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 …
Solar Energy, Utilities, And Fairness, Troy A. Rule
Solar Energy, Utilities, And Fairness, Troy A. Rule
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article analyzes the primary fairness arguments that utilities are leveling against net metering programs and electricity rate designs as rooftop solar energy expands across the country. By categorizing and more thoroughly evaluating these arguments, this Article seeks to enhance the dialogue between utilities, legislators, state regulators, and the solar energy industry over how to best orchestrate the nation’s shift toward more sustainable electricity strategies.
Part II of this Article describes how net metering programs and other factors are spurring dramatic growth in distributed solar energy generation in the United States and how utilities are increasingly lobbying for policy changes …
Electric Utilities And Distributed Energy Resources - Opportunities And Challenges, Jeff Winmill
Electric Utilities And Distributed Energy Resources - Opportunities And Challenges, Jeff Winmill
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article explores the key business and regulatory issues associated with utility investments in DERs, as well as important considerations for regulators seeking to strike the appropriate balance between DER services provided by third parties and DER services provided by utilities. Part I provides a brief overview of the electric utility industry, and the growth and impact of DERs in recent years. Part II analyzes two emergent distributed technologies––solar photovoltaics (PV) and distributed storage––as well as utility efforts to invest in these technologies. And Part III concludes with a discussion of two different regulatory models for addressing utility-ownership of DERs: …
Climate Change & The Public Trust Doctrine: An Analysis Of Atmospheric Trust Litigatin, Kassandra Castillo
Climate Change & The Public Trust Doctrine: An Analysis Of Atmospheric Trust Litigatin, Kassandra Castillo
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
As Professor Charles Wilkinson explains, “The public trust doctrine is rooted in the precept that some resources are so central to the well-being of the community that they must be protected by distinctive, judge-made principles.” Because a healthy and habitable atmosphere is essential to the survival of the human race, it is imperative that the public trust doctrine be interpreted in a way to include the atmosphere within its scope. Civil litigation is an effective legal mechanism to expand the public trust doctrine’s scope by way of the judiciary. Once a state judiciary can determine the applicability of the public …
"Green" Performance: The Future Of Performance-Based Executive Compensation?, Ben Schwefel
"Green" Performance: The Future Of Performance-Based Executive Compensation?, Ben Schwefel
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
Although sustainability performance appears to be a logical extension of the traditional performance-based compensation model, the effect and result of such performance remains unclear and untested across the market. The adoption of broad-based sustainability performance measures may be dangerous because, often times, these measures are tailored to the corporation and may decrease total shareholder return in the short run. Regardless of whether or not the corporation decides to introduce these measures, their effect on total shareholder return and other corporate interests requires an individualized analysis.
Part II of this Comment discusses the current state of executive compensation, including the use …
California Challenges & Vulnerabilities Of The New Business Model Design For Power, Steven Ferrey
California Challenges & Vulnerabilities Of The New Business Model Design For Power, Steven Ferrey
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article compares and contrasts state regulatory decisions, programs, subsidies, and the evolving new business model. Section II examines the revolutionary role of renewable energy, the critical role of electricity, and the changing business model. Section III analyzes how various incentives are being embedded in government programs in many states, how the incentives or the programs affect the evolving business model, how these are valued and shift economic impacts, and criticism of the results. Section IV dissects the motivation for the “regulatory play” in the new business model.
Climate Change And Environmental Justice: Lessons From The California Lawsuits, Alice Kaswan
Climate Change And Environmental Justice: Lessons From The California Lawsuits, Alice Kaswan
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This essay does not debate the political wisdom of suing; instead, it takes the suits as a given and attempts to enhance understanding of the environmental justice community’s climate justice agenda. It describes the role of environmental justice in the development of California’s climate law, AB 32, describes the lawsuits, and suggests some of the larger lessons about climate policy, cap-and-trade, and environmental justice that these lawsuits reveal. Ultimately, the environmental justice lawsuits highlight two primary themes: (1) the importance of a holistic approach to climate change policy that recognizes and integrates its multiple dimensions, including co-pollutant implications; and (2) …
Energy Policy, Extraterritoriality, The Dormant Commerce Clause, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth Henley
Energy Policy, Extraterritoriality, The Dormant Commerce Clause, Alexandra B. Klass, Elizabeth Henley
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article will focus specifically on potential challenges to state energy policy based on the “extraterritoriality doctrine” of the dormant Commerce Clause. In doing so, it considers two recent lawsuits involving dormant Commerce Clause challenges to state energy policy. The first is the lawsuit against the State of California over its Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS) program on grounds that it discriminates against Midwest ethanol producers in favor of California ethanol producers and regulates extraterritorially in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause. The second is the lawsuit by the State of North Dakota, the North Dakota lignite coal industry, and …
She Sells Seawalls Down By The Seashore, Tricia Lee
She Sells Seawalls Down By The Seashore, Tricia Lee
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Comment argues that a bill similar to Assembly Bill 2943 should be proposed today because there has been a drastic shift towards a general acceptance of global warming since 2002. In addition, new environmental studies support the idea of curbing seawall construction along the California coast.
Section I will provide data regarding rising sea levels and the current state of seawall construction along the California coast. It will then explain why seawall construction is not a viable adaptation strategy and delve into its negative social, environmental, and economic impacts.
Section II will examine California’s current policies for protecting coastal …
Electric Power Resource "Shuffling" And Subnational Carbon Regulation: Looking Upstream For A Solution, Jim Rossi, Andrew J.D. Smith
Electric Power Resource "Shuffling" And Subnational Carbon Regulation: Looking Upstream For A Solution, Jim Rossi, Andrew J.D. Smith
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
The potential for shuffling in wholesale power markets thwarts California’s ability to meet its AB 32 GHG emission reduction goals, and may even lead to emissions increases. Yet, as California’s efforts illustrate, resource shuffling is extremely difficult to regulate at the state level. Short of California aggressively reducing its emissions limits to reflect the leakage problem of shuffling, the state is incapable of solving the problem on its own.
As states follow California’s lead in crafting their own approaches to regulating GHG emissions, national solutions will be necessary to address the problem of resource shuffling, given interstate markets in wholesale …
Carbonite Legal Conflict In California, Steven Ferrey
Carbonite Legal Conflict In California, Steven Ferrey
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article thaws several legal layers of California carbonite, tranche- by-tranche, and examines the legal fabric. First, in Section II we examine federal Constitutional challenges to California’s A.B. 32 and sustainable energy statutes under the Supremacy Clause. Section III analyzes litigation against California carbon control pursuant to the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Section IV analyzes challenges to the California regulation pursuant to state law violations, distinguishing those which proceed from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and those which utilize other state administrative laws to challenge California’s carbon choices and implementation. Section V examines the trilogy of litigation set …
The Lacey Act Amendments Of 2008: The World's First Ban On Illegal Logging Combats Deforestation But Gets Stumped By Foreign Laws, Yijin J. Lee
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
By exploring the history of the United States’ legislative efforts in dealing with the problems deforestation has caused and the origins of the Lacey Act, it is possible to understand the inspiration behind the 2008 amendments to the act. Further, exploring the minute details of the Lacey Act amendments and understanding how the amendments have changed the power and meaning behind the original Lacey Act highlights the amendments’ strengths and weaknesses. Also, in understanding how the new amendments are being implemented and enforced, it is possible to see which federal agencies are putting force behind the words of the Lacey …
Legal, Technical, And Economic Challenges In Integrating Renewable Power Generation Into The Electricity Grid, Timothy P. Duane, Kiran H. Griffith
Legal, Technical, And Economic Challenges In Integrating Renewable Power Generation Into The Electricity Grid, Timothy P. Duane, Kiran H. Griffith
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article addresses the legal, technical, and economic challenges of integrating high levels of renewable power generation into electrical grid system operation. Part II shows that the primary integration challenge is reducing the total costs of integration and allocating the costs of integration in a hybrid regulatory structure, which presents different institutional impediments than traditional cost-of-service ratemaking or rate-of-return regulation. We demonstrate that the primary impediment to improved integration is a failure to make the critical policy choice about how such costs will be allocated. Part III describes and analyzes the BPA-wind dispute in order to evaluate the adequacy of …
Who Regulates The Smart Grid? : Ferc's Authority Over Demand Response Compensation In Wholesale Electricity Markets, Joel B. Eisen
Who Regulates The Smart Grid? : Ferc's Authority Over Demand Response Compensation In Wholesale Electricity Markets, Joel B. Eisen
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article argues that Order 745 is both justified under the Federal Power Act (FPA) and important to ensure the transition to a clean energy future. A challenge to Order 745, Electric Power Supply Association v. FERC, is currently pending in the D.C. Circuit. This Article contends that Order 745 should be upheld against this challenge because it fits within FERC’s broad authority to regulate the wholesale power markets.
Harmonizing Distributed Energy And The Endangered Species Act, J. B. Ruhl
Harmonizing Distributed Energy And The Endangered Species Act, J. B. Ruhl
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article explores ways of harmonizing distributed energy and the ESA, a goal consistent with the national policy for renewable energy conservation. Several legal practitioners and scholars have identified the ESA as a potentially significant constraint on the siting and operation of wind power facilities. The ESA has also been identified as a potential barrier to renewable energy in general, as solar power, biomass, and ocean tide and wave facilities could have their own sets of impacts triggering ESA regulation. But most of this attention has been devoted to utility-scale renewable energy, with distributed energy largely ignored or perhaps assumed …
Waste Not, Want Not: Landfill Gas To Energy Projects, Climate Change, And The Clean Air Act, Katherine A. Trisolini
Waste Not, Want Not: Landfill Gas To Energy Projects, Climate Change, And The Clean Air Act, Katherine A. Trisolini
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article aims to address this gap, proposing how the Rule could be amended to reduce methane generally and enhance LGTE specifically.
The sections discuss legal mechanisms to reduce landfill methane emissions and promote LGTE where appropriate, focusing on the federal Clean Air Act’s potential role in regulating landfill gas emissions. Section II explains the adverse effects of methane emissions generally and the potential benefits of reducing landfill emissions specifically. Section III describes federal emissions standards under the Clean Air Act and incentive programs for expanded use of LGTE. The discussion highlights potential conflicts between divergent means of regulating landfill …
Climate Changes Disputes At The World Trade Organization: National Energy Policies And International Trade Liability, Nilmini Silva-Send
Climate Changes Disputes At The World Trade Organization: National Energy Policies And International Trade Liability, Nilmini Silva-Send
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article draws attention to the different outcomes that may result when WTO law is applied to resolve climate related national energy policy disputes, signals this might send for national energy policies, and how a subtle effect of indirect state liability may arise. Several pending or unresolved complaints currently at the WTO are used to demonstrate these effects. The complaints include the greenhouse gas controversy, the wind energy subsidies complaint, and the feed-in tariffs complaint. The next section, Section II, presents the basic WTO obligations of the four countries involved in these complaints (Japan, Canada, USA, China), and ways that …
South Africa's Electricity Crisis: The Need To Reconcile Environmental Policy Decisions With International Treaties, Brittany D. Botterill
South Africa's Electricity Crisis: The Need To Reconcile Environmental Policy Decisions With International Treaties, Brittany D. Botterill
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Comment examines whether South Africa’s treaty obligations conflict with the requirement of the country’s government to provide electricity to a burgeoning home-owning population. Section II introduces Eskom, South Africa’s largest utility company, which produces most of the electricity used in South Africa and surrounding countries. Section III discusses South Africa’s role in the Southern Africa Power Pool and the additional obligations this membership places on the country. Section IV then examines the controversial loan that South Africa received from the World Bank to assist in building the Medupi coal-fired power plant. Section V illustrates South Africa’s climate change obligations …
Expedited Approval Of Energy Projects: Toward Assessing The Forms Of Procedural Relief, Michael B. Gerrard
Expedited Approval Of Energy Projects: Toward Assessing The Forms Of Procedural Relief, Michael B. Gerrard
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This research is heading toward two further sets of questions, which may or may not be reached in the current phase of the work.
First, if certain permits or reviews can be dispensed with for certain projects, and there are few negative collateral consequences, do we need these permits and reviews at all? Every proposed project is important to someone, and arguments can almost always be mounted that a given kind of project warrants special treatment. The present inquiry may help identify some requirements that are obsolete and should not apply to anyone, and it may also help identify others …
Foreword, Dan Hua
Foreword, Dan Hua
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
On April 15, 2011, the San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law and the Energy Policy Initiatives Center co-hosted the Third Annual Climate & Energy Law Symposium. The Symposium examined various emerging law and policy approaches to encourage clean energy. At the Symposium, panels consisting of legal and policy experts from across the country addressed and debated a variety of key issues including the coordination of state and federal roles in the clean energy sector, the design of policies and markets for renewable energy and energy efficiency, and the balance between energy and environmental protection.
State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Is There A "Race" And Is It "To The Top"?, Lincoln L. Davies
State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Is There A "Race" And Is It "To The Top"?, Lincoln L. Davies
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
This Article proceeds in six parts. Part II offers a primer on RPSs, describing RPSs primary traits, how the laws are designed, why they are enacted, and how that relates to regulatory races. Part III overviews the literature on regulatory races, contrasting races to the bottom with races to the top. Part IV conceptualizes how state enactments of RPSs might be viewed as a race to the top. Part V examines evidence on whether RPSs can in fact be understood as a regulatory race. Using this evidence, Part V determines that state RPSs do not appear to be trending toward …
Solar Energy Development On The Federal Public Lands: Environmental Trade-Offs On The Road To A Lower Carbon Future, Robert L. Glicksman
Solar Energy Development On The Federal Public Lands: Environmental Trade-Offs On The Road To A Lower Carbon Future, Robert L. Glicksman
San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law
The federal government has endorsed more extensive use of the federal public lands for the production of solar power, both to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change and to bolster the security of domestic energy supplies. Spurred by grant money made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in 2010 approved nine utility-scale solar projects on public lands in California and Nevada. These projects were designed to avoid adversely affecting the habitats of endangered and threatened species that frequent the desert southwest and cultural resources important to …