Law and Environment

JUNE 11, 2021

As Anne Reynolds, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy – New York (“ACE-NY”) stated when the law was enacted, “[Section 94-c] improves the process and will hopefully get people to work, building wind and solar projects.” ORES’s determination is the next step in that process.

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Renewable Energy Law Regulations Clean Energy 130

Legal Planet

DECEMBER 16, 2021

Energy law used to be an obscure niche subject. Energy law is a hot topic. Law students are thronging to the field, seeing an opportunity to combine social relevance with good-paying jobs. Top law schools are responding by competing for faculty. Energy use accounts for the bulk of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Circle of Blue

OCTOBER 6, 2022

Coal mine cleanup law is still built for the industry’s roaring ’70s. So in August of 1977, when the nation’s coal mine cleanup law went into effect, it reflected the market’s optimism. To enforce cleanup, the law allowed states to revoke mining permits, a prized commodity. . Energy Information Administration.

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Legal Planet

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

Someone asked me recently what I thought law schools should be teaching about climate change. There are many important societal issues that don’t get high priority in law school, such as the availability of health care or public health law. Law student interests aren’t entirely driven by career needs, however.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 16, 2024

Texas went first in 2005, with a law called SB 20. The law authorized the creation of new transmission to serve “renewable energy zones” and a process to identify and select such zones. Nevada adopted a law called SB 448 in 2021, directing utilities to build transmission that meets state goals.

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Electricity Renewable Energy Clean Energy Law 298

Law and Environment

JULY 2, 2021

On June 29, 2021, a cohort of New York local governments (including many where large-scale solar projects are currently proposed), community organizations, and avian interest groups filed a lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court (the State’s trial-level court) against the Office of Renewable Energy Siting (“ORES”).

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A Greener Life

NOVEMBER 14, 2024

By Liu Lican On November 8, China issued its first Energy Law , which aims to support the development and utilisation of renewable energy and increase the proportion of non-fossil energy consumption. However, the law also states that there will be “rational development and clean and efficient use” of fossil fuels.

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Law Renewable Energy Fossil Fuels 2025 52

Law Columbia

JUNE 11, 2024

Local opposition has proven to be a significant barrier to the rapid expansion of renewable energy facilities across the United States. The report also identifies 395 local restrictions across 41 states, along with 19 state-level restrictions, that are so severe that they could have the effect of blocking a renewable energy project.

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Renewable Energy 2023 Government Natural Resources 111

Law Columbia

JANUARY 24, 2025

Planning law has proven to be a useful tool for climate activists seeking to block or challenge new fossil fuel developments. However, it has also been used to frustrate efforts to accelerate the renewable energy transition by delaying the construction of new renewable energy infrastructure (see here ).

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Renewable Energy Climate Change Law 2024 99

Enviromental Defense

DECEMBER 23, 2024

Between one and three per cent of all energy used worldwide powers Artificial Intelligence, some of which is being used to power such essential services as revealing what your mother-in-law would look like if she were a cat. Stay tuned.

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Renewable Energy 2027 Government Electricity 98

The Energy Law

APRIL 3, 2023

The Louisiana Legislature’s 2023 Regular Session begins on April 10th, and last Friday, Louisiana Senator Allain of District 21 filed SB 154 proposing to enact a statutory framework directly governing the rights and obligations of parties to renewable energy leases. 122); The lessee of a renewable energy lease would be “bound to.

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Renewable Energy Government Law 2023 98

Union of Concerned Scientists

DECEMBER 22, 2022

Lithium-ion batteries are essential for decarbonizing transportation through electric vehicles and building a resilient, renewable energy grid through energy storage batteries. Nearly every part of a renewable energy grid can be circular, with all outputs circulating back as inputs in a regenerative cycle.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 24, 2023

There’s good news in the recently released official data on electricity generation in the United States in 2022: renewable energy has continued to grow, coal power has continued to drop, and renewables are now firmly ahead of coal for the first time ever. They offer a lot of good news about clean energy progress.

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Legal Planet

DECEMBER 13, 2021

In 2019, the Utah State Legislature passed the Community Renewable Energy Act (HB 411). This bill allows Utah municipalities that are serviced by Rocky Mountain Power to achieve a net-100% renewable energy portfolio by 2030. Implementation of the plan is now underway. But there are signs of movement.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 13, 2024

CEJA also expanded incentives for wind and solar power; however, the law did not include significant provisions for energy storage deployment. So now it’s time to think seriously about what amount of energy storage the state may need to complement renewable energy resources that are coming onto the grid to replace fossil fuel plants.

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Legal Planet

FEBRUARY 27, 2023

The headline is accurate, but the law in question contains a lot of other interesting features that deserve attention. Despite the law’s extremely unglamorous name (“Senate File 4”), this is a big step forward for the state, as well as evidence of how much difference it makes to unified party control of state government.

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Renewable Energy Law Clean Energy Electricity 246

Legal Planet

AUGUST 6, 2023

Last week, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that an initiative measure that would have imposed severe restrictions on oil and gas development in Monterey County is preempted by state law and therefore invalid. The decision came in the case of Chevron U.S.A., County of Monterey.

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Law Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Regulations 130

Union of Concerned Scientists

MAY 19, 2022

A recent Union of Concerned Scientists analysis found that Minnesota could meet its electricity demands with 100-percent renewable energy by 2035, which would provide significant economic and health benefits. With such a wide gulf to cross, Minnesota could miss another opportunity to advance many key clean energy programs.

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Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Electricity 264

Legal Planet

OCTOBER 2, 2023

At the global level, however, Germany has its own claim to a leadership role, particularly in its early support for renewable energy. Although its track record has some complexities, this timeline of German actions shows just its early and sustained attention to clean energy policy: 1990. Renewables are 6% of power.

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Nuclear Power Renewable Energy Carbon Emissions 2030 203

Union of Concerned Scientists

JUNE 12, 2023

In many places state and federal utility regulators delegated decisions about energy supplies to the market. Since companies and policymakers do not want to pay a lot to ensure reliability, they both subscribe to the theory that the law of supply and demand will provide an adequate supply at a low cost. It’s a vicious feedback loop.

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Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy Electricity Regulations 266

PA Environment Daily

MARCH 21, 2025

Community solar would allow thousands of Pennsylvanians, like me in the Lehigh Valley, and across the Commonwealth who do not have the property to handle solar panels to receive the benefits of clean energy, said Rep. Peter Schweyer. Kate Harper (R) and Fmr Cong.

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Energy and Climate Law

OCTOBER 22, 2020

By Ceciel Nieuwenhout, Post-Doctoral Researcher, Groningen Centre of Energy Law and Sustainability; Lead Author of WP 1 T1.2 Report to the H2020 POCITYF-project A substantial part of energy in the EU is consumed by households , for powering electric appliances and for heating and cooling.

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Electricity Renewable Energy Law Regulations 246

Legal Planet

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Dear 1L: You’ve gotten to law school at a crucial time for the future of the planet. At the end of environmental law courses, I used to tell students about the role they could play over the course of their careers in fixing environmental problems. The most obvious way to contribute is as an environmental or energy lawyer.

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Renewable Energy Climate Change Law Electricity 299

Union of Concerned Scientists

JULY 17, 2023

Both sets of wires are needed for reliability and for hosting clean energy. State laws and practices manage the grid as a monopoly and regulate the siting and construction of new transmission. The states are best suited to protect the public interest in health, clean air, and siting renewable energy.

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Clean Energy Renewable Energy Fossil Fuels Regulations 246

Union of Concerned Scientists

APRIL 3, 2023

Along with interim goals and priorities for pollution reduction in environmental justice areas, the law provides authorization and resources for state agencies to enable the transition to clean, renewable energy. The ICC is currently considering a draft for the first of these REAP plans and is expected to finish this summer.

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Electricity Fossil Fuels Clean Energy Waste 246

PA Environment Daily

JULY 10, 2023

The third annual Penn State Solar Law Symposium will be held virtually on August 23, from noon to 4:30 p.m., for attorneys and energy professionals. Registration is required — $119 with CLE credits and $69 without — and must be completed by 11:59 p.m. Registrants will also receive access to the webinar recording.

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Legal Planet

JULY 29, 2021

On Wednesday, Oregon Governor Kate Brown signed a package of four clean energy bills. These laws ban new fossil fuel plants and set aggressive targets for the state’s two major utilities, requiring emission cuts of 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035 and 100% by 2040. These bills move Oregon to the forefront of climate action.

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E2 Law Blog

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

8308)) includes two pivotal energy proposals: the Renewable Action Through Project Interconnection and Deployment Act and the Affordable Gas Transition Act. This post summarizes the key provisions of these proposals and discusses their potential impact on New York’s energy landscape.

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Natural Gas Renewable Energy Electricity Clean Energy 105

Legal Planet

JULY 29, 2021

UCLA Professor of Law William Boyd. William Boyd is Professor of Law and Michael J. Klein Chair in Law at UCLA Law, with a joint appointment as Professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability ; Alex Wang is Professor of Law at UCLA Law. UCLA Professor of Law Alex Wang.

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Real Climate

AUGUST 17, 2022

With the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) on Tuesday Aug 16, the most significant climate legislation in US federal history (so far) became law. Despite the odd name (and greatly overused TLA ), the IRA contains a huge number of elements, totalling roughly $350 billion of investment, in climate solutions over the next ten years.

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Paris Agreement Air Pollution Renewable Energy 2030 349

Union of Concerned Scientists

FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a standard that will make the North Star State’s electricity 100 percent carbon-free by 2040. Building on the success of the 100 percent standard, there are many other energy- and environment-related bills ready for discussion and approval. What’s next?

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Electricity Clean Energy Fossil Fuels Renewable Energy 264

Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 24, 2023

The Vanuatu-led effort, which was initiated several years ago by law students at the University of the South Pacific, is now coming to fruition. If successful, the vote will invite the ICJ to issue an advisory opinion to clarify how existing international laws can be applied to strengthen action on climate change.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

MARCH 16, 2022

It’s widely viewed as the “gold standard” for energy projections, even though there’s much debate in the energy community about the validity of the assumptions behind these projections. Source: US Energy Information Administration, Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022). This year’s projections are a bit grim.

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Natural Gas Renewable Energy Climate Change Electricity 290

PA Environment Daily

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

Department of Energy announced the selection of six projects totaling $11.6 million funded by the federal Inflation Reduction Act in the second round of a program that will improve planning, siting, and permitting processes for large-scale renewable energy facilities. DOE also launched an $8.2 DOE awarded a $1.96

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Renewable Energy Clean Energy Environmental Protection 2024 78

Law Columbia

APRIL 11, 2025

Over the last five years, several states, including New York (2020), California (2022), Illinois (2023), and Michigan (2023) have adopted comprehensive permitting reforms that curtail the power of local governments to block development of large-scale renewable energy projects.

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Union of Concerned Scientists

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

We need a major buildout of renewable energy. But if we lower demand for energy, including by creating more efficient transportation alternatives, this becomes a less challenging mountain to climb. Another important action is influencing how transportation funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is spent.

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Clean Energy Biofuels Electricity Renewable Energy 356

Legal Planet

AUGUST 15, 2023

” Prioritizing fossil fuels over renewable energy in 2023 for insubstantial reasons does not pass strict scrutiny. That’s not unique to Montana , even though this case focused on state laws. The decision builds off of the plaintiffs’ own proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law.

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