Energy

With billions on the line, an entire new infrastructure to build, novel connections between the transportation and electric and building sectors, and a shifting global trade web, the last thing industry needs is to find out what Samuel Alito thinks James Madison might have thought about batteries. Electoral uncertainty in ...

There are various public policy approaches to addressing passenger vehicle carbon emissions. In this article I review three possible approaches: raising emissions standards; alternative fuel vehicle subsidies; and congestion charging zones. I propose a set of criteria for evaluating these different policies, and apply those criteria to the three policies. ...

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) grants strong privacy rights, including allowing a consumer to opt out of the sale of her information to third parties, and to request that a business delete her information from its records. At the same time, the electricity industry is transitioning towards a decentralized ...

Climate change is internationally recognized as the biggest threat facing the world today. This threat transcends politics, economics, and social views. In 2017 we saw historic flooding, hurricanes, wildfires, and now record snowfall in the southeastern United States.

In 2016, the Illinois Legislature and New York Public Service Commission (PSC) enacted nearly identical policies to induce economically struggling nuclear power plants to continue operating. Competing power generation companies filed suits in federal district courts, arguing that the states’ policies are preempted

Joel B. Eisen* Two pending federal appellate cases involving Illinois and New York laws, Old Mill Creek v. Star and Coalition For Competitive Electricity v. Zibelman respectively,[1] involve the conflict between federal authority over the electric grid and state laws supporting nuclear power plants. The issues are nearly identical in ...

by Sam Kalen & Steven Weissman Many modern energy dialogues gravitate toward a conversation about the present status of the jurisdictional divide between state and federal authority over the regulation of wholesale sales of energy. A March 3, 2017 Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) article began by observing how the ...

James D. Flynn* This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS). I. Introduction In recent years, states in New England and the mid-Atlantic region have made significant progress in reducing climate change-inducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the electricity generation sector.[1] This has largely been the result of ...

Theodore McDowell* This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).  The California Cap-and-Trade program has been a beacon of success for market-based environmentalism. The program masterfully incorporated the lessons learned from previous cap-and-trade initiatives by more precisely allocating emission allowances and by setting higher price floors for auctions. ...

Garrett Lenahan This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).  I. Scoping Plan Background Two prominent pieces of Californian legislation that seek to address climate change are Assembly Bill 32 ("AB 32") and Senate Bill 32 ("SB 32"). AB 32 required California to reduce its greenhouse gas ("GHG") ...

John Copeland Nagle* [ download PDF ] The Clean Power Plan (CPP) was supposed to be great. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) celebrated its regulation as “a historic and important step,” “fair, flexible and designed to strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy,” providing “national consistency, accountability ...

Breanna Hayes Breanna Hayes is the Managing Editor of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).                  I.              Introduction Human use of fossil fuels dates back to prehistoric times.[1]  Before the Industrial Revolution, ...

John Bullock* John Bullock is a J.D. Candidate at Harvard Law School. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate (ELRS).   Introduction As the public has become more aware of the intense connection between the practices of electric utilities and greenhouse gas emissions, interested groups have shone ...

Myles Osborne Myles Osborne is a 1L and General Member of the Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate.          In late October 2015, the Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility began spewing natural gas into ...

Benjamin Harris Benjamin Harris is a 3L at UCLA School of Law and serves as Executive Editor of the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law & Policy. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. The Clean Power Plan (“CPP”), announced and promulgated in late 2015 by the Environmental ...

Jennifer Golinsky Jennifer Golinsky is on the Georgetown Environmental Law Review. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. When the EPA released its draft of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) in June 2014,[1] commentators were quick to draw comparisons[2] to Obamacare (i.e., the Patient Protection and Affordable ...

Eric DeBellis Eric DeBellis is a 3L at Berkeley Law, where he is Senior Executive Editor of the Ecology Law Quarterly. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. On August 3, 2015, the EPA released its highly anticipated Clean Power Plan, establishing the nation’s first greenhouse gas ...

Sarah Stellberg Sarah Stellberg is a 3L at the University of Michigan Law School, where she is Editor-in-Chief of the Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law. This post is part of the Environmental Law Review Syndicate. Click here to see the original post and leave a comment. In his ...

Inara Scott* [ Click Here to Comment ][  Download PDF ] Many in the energy sector have called for a transformation of the traditional utility model to accommodate developments in distributed generation, address declining utility financial returns, and facilitate a transition to a low-carbon future.[1] These proponents envision this transformation ...

The Berkeley Exchange: Celebrating Berkeley’s Contribution to Environmental Law Scholarship Friday, February 7, 2014Symposium 8am-5:30pmAll-Alumni Reception 6pm-8pm [Download the Berkeley Exchange event flyer] On Friday, February 7th, Berkeley Law’s Ecology Law Quarterly and Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment are proud to host their symposium, The Berkeley Exchange: Celebrating ...