On November 3rd, the Guarini Center held an event titled, Reforming New York’s Energy Vision: Implications for Wholesale Electricity Markets at NYU Law. The event addressed the New York Public Service Commission’s “Reforming the Energy Vision (REV)” initiative to reform New York’s electric energy industry and regulatory practices to promote greater system-wide efficiency, greater deployment of renewable energy and “distributed” energy resources, and greater use of technologies, products and services to increase demand elasticity and efficiency. The REV could have profound operating and legal implications for wholesale power markets in New York (and potentially in other parts of the U.S.). This event provided a forum for experts to discuss these implications and the factors that should be considered while the REV initiative is still under consideration by the New York Public Service Commission.
Opening remarks by:
Michael Gergen (’92), Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Panelists: Clarke Bruno (’92), Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Anbaric Transmission Richard B. Miller (’87), Director, Energy Markets Policy Group, Con Edison John P. Reese, Senior Vice President, U.S. Power Generating Company
Moderated by: David L. Schwartz, Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
Monday, November 3, 2014 6:30 – 8pm Wine and cheese reception to follow
NYU School of Law
Faculty Library (3rd Floor), Vanderbilt Hall
40 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012
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Speaker Bios:
Michael Gergen a partner in Latham & Watkins LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, is a member of the Energy Regulatory and Markets Practice as well as the Project Finance Practice.
Mr. Gergen has extensive experience developing practical applications of economics, finance and regulatory law to assist clients involved in the electric, natural gas and other network industries in the United States and internationally. Mr. Gergen represents entities involved in electric generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas transportation, storage and distribution, electric and natural gas marketing and trading, and finance, as well as international governments and financial institutions. Mr. Gergen also assists clients regarding federal and state financing support and incentive programs for clean energy technologies, products and services.
Mr. Gergen has assisted clients on a wide range of transactional, controversy, policy and legislative matters and has represented clients both in commercial negotiations and before various federal and state regulatory agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and various state public utility commissions, and numerous federal and state courts and arbitral bodies. Mr. Gergen also has served as an economist for an investor-owned public utility, as well as an economic consultant for a state energy commission.
Mr. Gergen is listed as a leading energy attorney in Who’s Who Legal and in Chambers USA, which describes him as having “developed a positive reputation in the industry as ‘a quick, clever and creative lawyer.’” He has given a variety of speeches on energy regulatory and policy matters. He is a member of the Federal Energy Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Mr. Gergen was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America 2012 as a recommended attorney in Energy Law. Mr. Gergen is an Adjunct Professor of Law and is a member of the Board of Advisors for the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law.
Clarke Bruno, Clarke Bruno oversees Anbaric’s transmission projects in the Mid-Atlantic region and helps lead its microgrid business. He has over two decades of experience in law, energy and environmental policy, and project development. As counsel to former New Jersey Governor Corzine, he helped craft the State’s initiatives to upgrade the grid, spur renewable energy projects, and increase infrastructure investments. During Mayor Bloomberg’s first term in New York City, Mr. Bruno won dismissal of four major class action lawsuits. Before entering government, he was a regulatory lawyer and litigator for nine years and clerked for a federal judge for one year. Mr. Bruno chairs the NYC Bar Association’s energy committee for the 2012-2015 term.
Mr. Bruno graduated with honors from Swarthmore College where he won a Thomas J. Watson fellowship and cum laude from New York University School of Law where he was awarded an Arthur Garfield Hays fellowship.
Richard B. Miller, is Director of the Energy Markets Policy Group at Con Edison where he is responsible for federal energy policy issues, particularly as they relate to the operation of wholesale markets and the bulk electric transmission system. Previously, he was an assistant general counsel in the regulatory services department at Con Edison where he worked on legal matters relating to the Con Edison steam system, renewable power and energy efficiency. From 1998-2003, he was Senior Vice-President for Energy at the New York City Economic Development Corporation (where he oversaw City energy policy). Prior to 1998, he was an energy regulatory attorney for Cohen, Dax & Koenig in Albany, New York, and a litigation associate at Cohen, Weiss and Simon and Sullivan & Cromwell in New York City.
He is a graduate of Amherst College and New York University School of Law.
John Reese, a Senior Vice President of Governmental Affairs for US Power Generating Company. Mr. Reese has been responsible for ongoing communications with city, state and federal officials and energy policy-making bodies on wholesale electric markets, and environmental and electric regulatory legislative issues. He is also responsible for project development including ongoing proposals to add generation in Brooklyn and Queens.
Prior to joining US Power Generating Company, Mr. Reese served as both Executive Deputy of the New York State Public Service Commission (2006-2007) and as a Senior Policy Advisor at the Commission from 2003-2006. As Vice President of Governmental Affairs for Reliant/Orion Power Holdings, Mr. Reese represented the New York City assets now held by US Power Generating Company as well as over fifty low impact hydroelectric facilities throughout the northeast. Previously, Mr. Reese served as the Deputy Director of the Independent Power Producers of New York, Sr. Technical Advisor to the US Department of Energy, and Director of Development and Evaluation in the New York State Energy Office. He served on the New York Governor’s and Mayor’s Task Forces for Greenhouse Gas Emissions, the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Independent Power Producers of New York, and serves as an advisor to the New York City Fund Clean Tech Committee, the Chariot Companies, the NYSERDA environmental research programs and Windinspire .
Mr. Reese received his MBA from Russell Sage College and his BA from Pennsylvania State University.
David Schwartz is a partner in the Finance Department of Latham & Watkins LLP’s Washington, D.C. office. He serves as global Chair of the Energy Regulatory and Markets Practice, is a member of the Project Finance Group, and is Co-chair of the firm’s Global Energy – Power Industry Group. He has extensive experience representing entities involved in electric generation, transmission and distribution, electric and gas marketing and trading, and gas transportation and distribution.
Mr. Schwartz has been active in the formation of the developing electricity markets in the United States; led transactional and regulatory teams in mergers and acquisitions and divestitures of energy companies and assets; litigated contract, rate and transmission access disputes; and drafted federal and state energy legislation. He also has extensive experience in negotiating power purchase and sale agreements, electric transmission agreements, natural gas transportation agreements, energy management agreements, and electric and gas interconnection agreements.
Mr. Schwartz regularly advises clients on energy matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), various state public utility commissions, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
Mr. Schwartz is consistently recognized as a top energy attorney in Corporate Counsel Magazine, Best Lawyers in America, Who’s Who Legal: Energy, Chambers USA, Chambers Global, and The Legal 500 US, which recently selected him as a “Leading Lawyer” for his transactional energy practice.
Mr. Schwartz is a member of the American Bar Association and has held leadership positions in the Energy Bar Association.
David Schwartz is a partner in the Finance Department of Latham & Watkins LLP’s Washington, D.C. office. He serves as global Chair of the Energy Regulatory and Markets Practice, is a member of the Project Finance Group, and is Co-chair of the firm’s Global Energy – Power Industry Group. He has extensive experience representing entities involved in electric generation, transmission and distribution, electric and gas marketing and trading, and gas transportation and distribution.