Energy and Utilities Law Commons^™

Energy And Environmental Justice: How States Can Integrate Environmental Justice Into Energy-Related Proceedings, James M. Van Nostrand

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Clean Energy And The Price Preemption Ceiling, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Since the New Deal, federal preemption has precluded many state and local regulatory decisions that depart from wholesale electric prices determined under federal standards. Recent decisions treat prices that meet the federal standard as a preemption ceiling, which prohibits states from setting prices that exceed the wholesale price set in a competitive market. Both appellate courts and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission - the primary federal agency responsible for the electric power sector - have recently applied a price preemption ceiling to clean energy policies. I argue in this Article that this price ceiling preemption approach hobbles the advancement of …

Can We Regulate Our Way To Energy Efficiency? Product Standards As Climate Policy, Noah M. Sachs

Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, I demonstrate that the regulatory strategy for energy efficiency is working. Although information disclosure, financial incentives, and other softer alternatives to regulation play a vital role in reducing energy demand, these should be viewed as complements to efficiency regulation, rather than replacements. The regulatory approach has led to substantial cost and energy savings in the past, it has enjoyed bipartisan political support, and it targets products and behaviors that are difficult to address through other policy tools. Given the politics of climate change in the United States, which make federal carbon taxes or a cap-and-trade system infeasible, …

Virtual "Nets" And Law: Power Navigates The Supremacy Clause, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Net metering is the most utilized state incentive for renewable power nationwide, in place in more than eighty-five percent of all states. Utilities in all states have been required by federal law for the past seven years to make net metering available to all requesting customers. Yet a significant number of states have failed to comply with this federal law, and several other states have complied in a manner that has raised questions as to whether they have violated the Constitution's separation between state and federal jurisdiction over power. This article will not delve into the first issue of noncompliance …

Efficiency In The Regulatory Crucible: Navigating 21st Century ‘Smart’ Technology And Power, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

The flow of money in U.S. energy policy choices has consequences, and the Obama administration’s 2009 federal stimulus package presents an interesting policy scenario. The current administration wants to pivot postindustrial America away from emitting global-warming gases and powering its economy with fossil fuels. Indeed, changing the energy technology and infrastructure of the United States has been the cornerstone of the Obama administration’s domestic policy. The federal government devoted significant amounts of stimulus funding to this agenda. It also maintained preferences for certain investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy through the tax code. A change of this significance revolving …

Introductory Remarks: International Energy Governance, Lakshman Guruswamy

Publications

No abstract provided.

Energy Policy: Past Or Prologue?, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

The United States was remarkably complacent about energy policy until the Arab oil embargo of 1973. Since then, we have relied on unnecessarily costly regulations and poorly designed subsidies to mandate or encourage particular forms of energy production and use. Our presidents have quested after an elusive technological “silver bullet.” Congress has elevated parochial interests and short-term political advantages over national needs. Despite the thousands of pages of energy legislation enacted over the past four decades, Congress has never demanded that Americans pay a price that reflects the full costs of the energy they consume. Given our nation’s economic fragility, …

Beyond Fukushima: Disasters, Nuclear Energy, And Energy Law, Lincoln L. Davies

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Mitigation In The Electric Power Sector, Lesley K. Mcallister

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rebuttal In Defense Of The Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement, Michael A. Swiger, Sharon L. White

Washington Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

This article rebuts certain assertions made by Mr. Thomas Schlosser in a recent article entitled Dewatering Trust Responsibility: The New Klamath River Hydroelectric and Restoration Agreements. The Klamath hydroelectric dams are not causing degrading fish disease conditions in the Klamath Basin. Dewatering Trust Responsibility overlooks the effects of water diversions for agriculture, pollution from pesticides and industrial operations and habitat degradation from timbering, ranching and other human activities on current Basin conditions. Under the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license, PacifiCorp is taking extensive measures to protect aquatic resources in the Basin prior to …

Regulation, "Republican Moments," And Energy Policy Reform, David B. Spence

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Here Comes The Sun: Solar Power Parity With Fossil Fuels, Nathan Mee, Marc Miller

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

There is wide agreement across the political spectrum that the United States should develop domestic, renewable sources of energy. There are many ways to describe the challenges of a transition from a fossil fuel economy to one fueled by atoms, the sun, or the wind, but in a nutshell, the problem is said to be cost: the basic reason the United States continues overwhelmingly to rely on fossil fuels is that they are comparatively cheap, and alternative energy is relatively expensive.

Or so it seems. This Article is intended to encourage more open discussion about real energy costs. To keep …

India's Nuclear Civil Liability Bill And Supplier's Liability: One Step Towards Modernizing The Outdated International Nuclear Liability Regime, Arya Hariharan

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Bp Deepwater Horizon: A Cautionary Tale For Ccs, Hydrofracking, Geoengineering And Other Emerging Technologies With Environmental And Human Health Risks, Mark A. Latham

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Article first discusses the technological issues surrounding the BP Deepwater Horizon and summarizes how regulator and industry reliance on an inadequate fail-safe device played a crucial role in this disaster. Next, I discuss the fundamentals of carbon capture and sequestration, hydraulic fracturing, and geoengineering; that is, I attempt to capture what they involve, followed by the environmental and human health risks they present. I then summarize the current or proposed regulation of these technologies and analyze whether those regulations are sufficient to adequately protect human health and the environment. I conclude with recommendations for policymakers and regulators to consider …

The Slippery Shelf: Ceding The Public Trust To Administrative Ambivalence In Offshore Development, Rachel Ganong

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Renewable Portfolio Standards And Feed-In Tariffs As Legislative Mechanisms To Provide Renewable Power Incentives: Impacts On Power Supply, Transmission, And Grid Intermittency, Steven Ferrey

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

A federalist form of government is used in several important nations, including the United States, Germany, India, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, and Switzerland. A federalist form of government divides political sovereignty between a central federal authority and constituent states or provinces. To implement new government policy regulating private power, the challenging transcendent issues are legal and regulatory, rather than technical. Certain measures in various industrialized countries, when implemented at the state rather than federal level, must be designed and implemented carefully to achieve a legal, regulatory fit in a federalist system of government.

For purposes of comparison, this article considers …

The One Percent Problem, Kevin M. Stack, Michael P. Vandenbergh

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Parties frequently seek exemption from regulation on the ground that they contribute only a very small share to a problem. These one percent arguments are not inherently questionable; it can be efficient to exclude relatively small contributors. These arguments for exemption garner broad acceptance in part because they appeal to behavioral biases that induce individuals to discount or ignore small values. But when a regulatory problem can be solved only by regulating small contributors, accepting one percent arguments creates what we call the one percent problem. This Article shows that this general problem for regulation has particularly damaging effects on …

Developing The Marcellus Shale: Legal, Regulatory, And Infrastructure Challenges And Their Effect On Downstream Energy Markets, Aaron Stemplewicz

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

The Marcellus Shale natural gas play is largely considered a "game changer" for the US. energy sector as recent technological breakthroughs in drilling techniques and technologies have made natural gas extraction from this massive play commercially viable. This note not only examines the primary driving forces behind the development of this pla, but also how the extent and pace iwith ihich it is developed will affect doinstream energy markets. In particular three categories of factors are evaluated: legal challenges, regulatory controls, and infrastructure development. Tiwo models of growth and their effect on downstream markets are then proposed and analyzed.

Evaluating Energy Security Performance From 1990 To 2010 For Eighteen Countries, Benjamin K. Sovacool, Ishani Mukherjee, Ira Martina Drupady, Anthony L. D' Agostino

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This study provides an index for evaluating national energy security policies and performance among the United States, European Union, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and the ten countries comprising the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Drawn from research interviews, a survey instrument, and a focused workshop, the article first argues that energy security ought to be comprised of five dimensions related to availability, affordability, technology development, sustain-ability, and regulation. The article then breaks these dimensions down into 20 components and correlates them with 20 metrics that constitute a comprehensive energy security index. We find that the …

Requirements For A Renewables Revolution, Felix Mormann

Faculty Scholarship

This Article identifies and analyzes the obstacles presently barring the rise of renewables, evaluates the role of the current policy favorite emission pricing, and offers design recommendations for a comprehensive U.S. renewables policy.

Successful climate change mitigation requires a timely shift to renewable sources of energy, such as sunlight, wind or tides, to decarbonize today’s high-carbon electricity sector. But market pull alone is not strong enough. This Article discusses the most widely cited economic barriers and identifies and evaluates additional obstacles related to the electricity sector’s regulatory framework.

Emission pricing is largely considered the most efficient policy to drive the …