Editor's Introduction,
2016
University of Oklahoma College of Law
Editor's Introduction, Daniel Franklin
Oil and Gas, Natural Resources, and Energy Journal
No abstract provided.
Nuclear Stalemate: Indefinite Above-Ground Storage Is A Temporary, Albeit Safe Band-Aid For A Serious Wound,
2016
Notre Dame Law School
Nuclear Stalemate: Indefinite Above-Ground Storage Is A Temporary, Albeit Safe Band-Aid For A Serious Wound, Steven D. Melzer
Notre Dame Law Review
This Note focuses on the validity and wisdom of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approach: the September 2014 Rule and accompanying Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS), as well as their combined potential to significantly alter the trajectory of spent fuel storage and disposal in the United States. Part I will explain the relevant history helpful to understand the political battles and legal issues surrounding spent fuel disposal and the Yucca Mountain project. Parts II and III will analyze the implications of the new Continued Storage Rule and why it likely satisfies all applicable statutory requirements and judicial orders. Part IV will …
A Shift In The Wind: Siting More Wind Power Projects Along Texas' 367-Mile Coast Of Gulf Winds, And Mitigating Potential Risk To Migratory Bird Populations,
2016
Florida A&M University College of Law
A Shift In The Wind: Siting More Wind Power Projects Along Texas' 367-Mile Coast Of Gulf Winds, And Mitigating Potential Risk To Migratory Bird Populations, Oscar Burkholder
Student Works
Wind farm development in Texas is surging, making wind power Texas’ hottest energy prospect. Texas currently produces more wind power than any other state by a significant margin, and it keeps blowing through major milestones almost every year. Part II of this paper discusses the relationship between Texas and wind energy, examining the success of onshore wind energy in Texas, the uncertainty and challenges of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico, and possible room for improvement in Texas’ onshore wind farms. Part III analyzes Texas’ current legal framework, evaluating key federal involvement within Texas’ wind energy industry, and …
How The Public Trust Doctrine's Fiduciary Duty Requirement Requires States' Proactive Response To Promote Offshore Power Generation,
2016
Florida A&M University College of Law
How The Public Trust Doctrine's Fiduciary Duty Requirement Requires States' Proactive Response To Promote Offshore Power Generation, Andrew S. Ballentine
Student Works
As the earth continues to warm and the impacts of that warming trend loom larger, the question becomes whether and to what degree do governments have responsibility to respond to that threat. The potential range of threats and impacts from climate change vary greatly and governments’ ability to respond, effectively and efficiently, exceeds that of the individual and therefore must fall on the greater collection of individuals. In the United States, one way that the collection of individuals is represented, albeit with limitations, is by the government that operates for the collective public good. This Article focuses on what responsibility …
Beyond Baby Steps An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898,
2016
CUNY School of Public Health
Beyond Baby Steps An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Environmental Justice Executive Order 12898, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman, Gunwant Gill, Miriam Jovanovic
Publications and Research
This study evaluated the impact of Executive Order (EO) 12898 to advance environmental justice. We conducted a review evaluating the frequency and effective use of EO 12898 since execution with particular focus following President Obama’s Plan EJ 2014. We found that both EO 12898 and Plan EJ 2104 had little, if any, impact on federal regulatory decision making. To the extent federal agencies discussed EO 12898, most did so in boilerplate rhetoric that satisfied compliance but was devoid of detailed thought or analysis. In the 21st year, with the exception of the Environmental Protection Agency, very little federal regulatory activity …
Drilling For Common Ground: How Public Opinion Tracks Experts In The Debate Over Federal Regulation Of Shale Oil & Gas Extraction,
2016
CUNY School of Public Health
Drilling For Common Ground: How Public Opinion Tracks Experts In The Debate Over Federal Regulation Of Shale Oil & Gas Extraction, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman
Publications and Research
Public interest in environmental and health impacts from shale oil and gas extraction (what the public calls “fracking”) is growing. Industry claims the public outcry against the new technology is not grounded in science. In February 2013, Resources for the Future (“RFF”) published a list of high priority “risk pathways” that experts from NGOs, academia, government, and industry all agreed were real concerns about fracking. This article used the risk matrix to evaluate whether public comments in dockets of federal agencies that proposed regulation concerning hydraulic fracturing tracked expert concern. The article found that the public tracked many of the …
Clean Power Policy In The United States,
2016
University of Cincinnati College of Law
Clean Power Policy In The United States, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Within the last year, the Obama administration has taken two significant and dramatic steps addressing the challenges of climate change and demonstrating a renewed leadership role for the US. First, as a signatory to the Paris climate agreements, the US has stepped forward to participate in that global effort after years of recalcitrance. The US, for example, signed the Rio Declaration in 1992 but five years later would not ratify the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. Now, though, the US has reversed course and has reentered the international climate conversation.
The second significant climate initiative came on the domestic front as the …
Oil & Gas Drilling In National Parks,
2016
CUNY School of Public Health
Oil & Gas Drilling In National Parks, Elizabeth Ann Glass Geltman
Publications and Research
While a great deal of public attention addresses the Halliburton loophole of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and Bureau of Land Management efforts to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands, less attention has been paid to the National Park Service “9B Regulations,” which provide a national regulatory framework governing the exercise of nonfederal oil and gas rights in national parks. This article begins with a review of law pertaining to oil and gas drilling in national parks. The article examines the tension in striking a balance between environmental protection, conservation of national lands and achieving energy independence, including National …
Achieving Very High Pv Penetration,
2016
University at Albany, State University of New York
Achieving Very High Pv Penetration, Richard Perez, Karl R. Rábago, Mike Trahan, Lyle Rawlings, Ben Norris, Tom Hoff, Morgan Putnam, Marc Perez
Environmental Law Program Publications @ Haub Law
This article argues that optimally deployed intermittency solutions could affordably transform solar power generation into the firm power delivery system modern economies require, thereby enabling very high solar penetration and the displacement conventional power generation. The optimal deployment of these high‐penetration enabling solutions imply the existence of a healthy power grid, and therefore imply a central role for utilities and grid operators. This article also argues that a value‐based electricity compensation mechanism, recognizing the multifaceted, penetration‐dependent value and cost of solar energy, and capable of shaping consumption patterns to optimally match resource and demand, would be an effective vehicle to …
Emerging Issues: Transcanada V. Obama Administration – 15 Billion For Cancellation Of Keystone Xl Pipeline Project,
2016
University of Baltimore
Emerging Issues: Transcanada V. Obama Administration – 15 Billion For Cancellation Of Keystone Xl Pipeline Project, Aviana Cooper
University of Baltimore Journal of International Law
TransCanada Keystone Pipeline, LP and TC Oil Pipeline Operations Inc., subsidiaries of TransCanada Corporation (“TransCanada”), lost their seven-year bid with the United States (U.S.) Government for a permit to complete the $5.4 billion oil pipeline connecting Canada and the U.S. On November 6, 2015, President Obama announced that Secretary of State, John Kerry, through powers under Executive Order 13337, had denied the application for a border crossing permit, prohibiting construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project. Following this denial, on January 6, 2016, TransCanada filed a complaint to the District Court of Texas against members of the Obama Administration, requesting …
International Energy And Natural Resources,
2016
Southern Methodist University
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.
Distributed Reliability,
2016
University of Colorado Law School
Distributed Reliability, Amy L. Stein
University of Colorado Law Review
For the past century, electric utilities and grid operators have both owned and operated resources to maintain the reliability of the grid. This reliability has been controlled through investments in generation, transmission, and distribution assets. Today, a growing number of previously passive customers are much more involved in generating their own electricity. But this customer involvement does not stop with generation. Customers are also contributing energy storage and demand response (DR) to the grid, reliability resources that are an essential component of supporting intermittent, renewable energy. This Article draws upon economic analyses of industrial organization and principal agent theory to …
Eminent Domain And Serrated Power,
2016
Suffolk University Law School
Eminent Domain And Serrated Power, Steven Ferrey
Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works
This article provides an examination of the legal issues affecting siting of new wind projects and the ability of states to use preemptive state powers to preempt local zoning and land-use issues to circumvent local opposition to wind power siting, with detailed case studies of law in different states.
Ferc’S Expansive Authority To Transform The Electric Grid,
2016
University of Richmond
Ferc’S Expansive Authority To Transform The Electric Grid, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
Using an unprecedented historical analysis of over 100 years of law dating to the Progressive Era, this Article concludes that the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) v. Electric Power Supply Association properly asserted that FERC has ample authority to pursue broad environmental and energy goals in transforming the electric grid. Building on the Court’s finding that FERC may regulate “practices” that “directly affect” rates in wholesale electricity markets, the analysis develops a detailed standard that is consistent with interpretation of regulatory statutes in each of three distinct eras: the Progressive Era, the era of regulation …
Demand Response In Wholesale Markets,
2016
University of Richmond
Demand Response In Wholesale Markets, Joel B. Eisen
Law Faculty Publications
Demand response participation in wholesale markets is an important building block in a profound transformation of electricity systems in the United States and Europe. Technical and economic innovations, supported by governmental policies, are moving electricity systems toward smart grids that integrate generation, transmission and distribution in a more networked, environmentally responsible and efficient manner, incorporating distributed energy resources and delivering benefits for utilities and consumers. As one component of smart grids, consumers, utilities and regional grid operators may benefit from more use of demand response programmes that reduce peak power consumption and market price spikes, balance intermittency of renewables and …
Ferc V. Epsa And The Path To A Cleaner Electricity Sector,
2016
University of Richmond
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 …
Fossil Fuel Abolition: Legal And Social Issues,
2016
Elisabeth Haub School of Law
Fossil Fuel Abolition: Legal And Social Issues, Karl S. Coplan
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
This Article will examine the practical, ethical, legal, and socio-political implications of fossil fuel abolition. First, the Article will consider the practical, ethical, and legal arguments in favor of fossil fuel abolition. Then, the Article will examine possible legal means and authorities to implement abolition in the United States, as well as potential legal objections to fossil fuel abolition. Finally, the Article will consider legal abolition’s capacity to effect the far-reaching changes in our socioeconomic system that a ban on fossil fuels will entail. The Article also will compare the climate reform movement to other social law reform movements in …
Checks, Balances, And Nuclear Waste,
2016
Notre Dame Law School
Checks, Balances, And Nuclear Waste, Bruce R. Huber
Journal Articles
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established a process for siting and constructing repositories for nuclear waste. When Nevada’s Yucca Mountain emerged as a likely repository site, that state’s officials and allies exercised the numerous political and legal checks afforded by the Act and appear, at least for the time being, to have defeated the selection. But Nevada’s victory may well be the nation’s loss. In the absence of a national waste repository, nuclear power plant operators have no choice but to store spent nuclear fuel on site, where it presents a number of risks not contemplated by the …
The Regulatory Contract In The Marketplace,
2016
Vanderbilt University Law School
The Regulatory Contract In The Marketplace, Emily Hammond, David B. Spence
Vanderbilt Law Review
For decades, energy policy has struggled to reconcile two distinct visions for the future: the first seeks ever-more-competitive, efficient, and dynamic electricity markets, while the second seeks an ever-greener mix of electricity generation sources. Caught within this push-and-pull dynamic is the regulatory contract--a nineteenth-century concept that stands more for ordered regulation than competitive markets. This Article examines how piecemeal pursuit of two energy visions has produced mismatches between rapidly evolving markets and governance institutions that cannot change as quickly. To better evaluate these mismatches, the Article develops a framework that accounts not just for market operation and environmental externalities, but …
When A State Does The "Circuit": State Administrative Discretion At The Jurisdictional Precipice,
2016
Suffolk University Law School
When A State Does The "Circuit": State Administrative Discretion At The Jurisdictional Precipice, Steven Ferrey
Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works
California raised its renewable energy requirement, already the most ambitious of all the contiguous 48 states, to require 50% of all electric power generated by 2030 to be generated from renewable energy. This now is the most aggressive renewable energy standard of any major economy in the world. California's low carbon fuel standard, eventually upheld by the Ninth Circuit with a dissent, appears to be disconnected with the last half century of Supreme Court Commerce Clause jurisprudence. After this decision, as noted by a member of the Ninth Circuit, California may now be given free license to impose carbon tariffs …
