Energy

What will Obama do about Connecticut v. AEP?

I just got a call from the managing editor of Carbon Control News, which seems to be a pretty informative and useful web-based publication.  His question: why hasn’t the Tennessee Valley Authority joined the rest of the utilities in asking the Supreme Court to grant certiorari in Connecticut v. AEP, the federal common law public …

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New NEPA procedures for offshore drilling

Cross-posted at CPRBlog. Today the White House Council on Environmental Quality issued a report on the NEPA analysis that preceded exploratory drilling at the ill-fated Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, together with recommendations for improving NEPA analysis in the future. According to CEQ, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (successor to the …

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PACE Advocates Keep Piling On FHFA

The hits keep coming. As I’ve been chronicling, the Federal Housing Finance Administration’s decision to effectively destroy the energy efficiency and renewable energy financing program called Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is inviting serious legal and political blowback. First, California Attorney General Jerry Brown sues the feds, and now Sonoma County, the Sierra Club, and …

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Energy storage is key to the success of renewables in California

UPDATE: The bill summary linked below from the California Energy Storage Alliance actually summarizes a former version of the bill.  The current bill version, linked below and here, is the best source now.  The current version imposes no percentage mandate on utilities.  Thanks to Ethan Elkind for pointing that out. UCLA Law and Berkeley Law recently …

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Indirect Land Use Change and Biofuels

Biofuels are a promising way to reduce carbon emissions, but they have a potential side-effect: indirect land use change (ILUC).  ILUC is more serious for some fuels than others, but it’s a possibility with any biofuel except perhaps algae grown in tanks in the desert. The logic of ILUC seems undeniable: because demand for food …

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No national renewable energy goals? Don’t try to tell that to the Pentagon.

The heat wave that has smothered the Eastern seaboard like a heavy, sweaty blanket has apparently done nothing to inspire the U.S. Senate to pass a climate bill, or take major steps on the energy front. Insiders report that Harry Reid’s “stripped down” energy bill will not only dodge the climate debate, but it will …

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Adios, Federal Climate Change Legislation

We hardly knew ye (in the Senate, anyway).  Reports indicate that Senate Democrats will be scaling back their energy legislation to a bill that addresses oil well leaks and energy efficiency, but nothing on carbon emission more generally. In many ways, the failure of comprehensive energy reform can be traced to two things: 1) health …

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How To Increase Deployment of Energy Storage To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

The white papers keep coming.  Today, UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law released a new report, “The Power of Energy Storage: How to Increase Deployment in California to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” to examine policies that California and federal leaders can implement to increase the state’s energy storage capacity. As California seeks to expand …

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GOP Will Filibuster the PACE Bill, Unless…

A prediction: the Republicans will filibuster Mike Thompson’s bill concerning PACE once it gets to the Senate.  At this point, the Republicans (led by Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured right) are simply uninterested in principles or policy.  That’s particular true in the shadow of the upcoming midterms: stopping the bill will simply be another way to …

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Congress to Intervene in the PACE Saga?

California Attorney General Jerry Brown’s lawsuit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for its stance on the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program may be moot if Congress can act to force FHFA to back down. Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) has now introduced legislation in the House of Representatives that would bar FHFA and …

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