Since commercial drilling for oil and gas began in the United States in the nineteenth century, the idea that the first party to capture oil and gas owns them has played a role in determining who initially owns these resources. This article, which appears in the American Bar Association’s July/August 2022 issue of Trends, describes how …
Ownership of Environmental Attributes in the Energy World Read More »
The boundary between state and federal authority over the electricity sector is in flux. A host of new technologies is rapidly changing how electricity is generated and consumed. At the same time, state and federal regulators are adopting novel laws and regulations to cope with these changes and to address other priorities, such as reducing …
This article examines the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Electric Power Supply Association. It argues that the decision represents a deeply functional and pragmatic approach to the Federal Power Act. That approach, it concludes, represents a promising development for the future of electricity regulation, especially for programs such as net metering and …
FERC v. EPSA: Functionalism and the Electricity Industry of the Future Read More »
On February 24, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Hughes v. Talen Energy Marketing. In deciding this case, the Court must determine whether an effort by the State of Maryland to incentivize the construction of new power plants is field preempted by the Federal Power Act (“FPA”)—that is, whether the Maryland law intrudes on an …
States across the country are witnessing a surge in distributed electricity generation. DG has the potential to provide significant economic and reliability benefits. DG powered by zero- or low-emissions resources may also confer significant environmental benefits. But not all DG comes from these relatively clean sources. Increased reliance on “dirty DG,” especially DG that runs on diesel fuel, has …
Last week, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Hughes v. PPL EnergyPlus, LLC (“PPL”), its second case of the term involving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (“FERC”) regulation of wholesale electricity markets. Two days earlier, the Court heard oral argument in the first case, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission v. Electric Power Supply Association (“EPSA”). Following argument in EPSA, the prevailing wisdom was …
Electricity Regulation at the Supreme Court: What Might the Grant of PPL Mean for EPSA? Read More »
