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Comments to NYPSC on CLCPA’s Zero-Emissions Amendments to Public Service Law
Policy Integrity submitted comments to the New York State Public Service Commission (NYPSC) regarding the section of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) that amends the Public Service Law to add a new section (Section 66-p), which requires, among other things, that, by 2040, “the statewide electrical demand system will be zero emissions.” NYPSC had posed several questions about how it should interpret the requirements for 2040 under the new Public Service Law provision.
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Comments to CFTC on Voluntary Carbon Credit Derivatives Guidance
In December 2023, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposed guidance that identifies key features of high-integrity voluntary carbon credits (VCCs) for exchanges that list certain VCC derivatives. The Institute for Policy Integrity submitted comments that highlight additional sources of CFTC legal authority over these derivatives and suggest improvements to the proposed guidance’s discussions of additionality, leakage risk, quantification, risk of reversal, and exchanges’ discretion to set stringent standards. Finally, our comments recommend that the CFTC explore whether it has other authority to address issues with VCC integrity and whether to seek additional authority from Congress.
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Comments to DOE and CPO a National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building
The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Office of Domestic Climate Policy (CPO) published a Request for Information on a National Definition for a Zero Emissions Building. The Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law (Policy Integrity) submitted comments through DOE and CPO's question-and-answer textbox format.
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The Climate Costs and Economic Benefits of LNG Export
Gas provides nearly a quarter of the world’s total energy supply. As part of that supply chain, gas is shipped between continents in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The United States is now the world’s largest LNG exporter following a surge in gas exports since 2016, but these exports have generated controversy due to their climate effects.This policy brief provides an analysis to support an effort to balance the full range of impacts from LNG exports. Using DOE’s own published studies, we compare the climate cost per unit of LNG export to the economic benefit (measured using consumer welfare). We find that climate costs likely exceed economic benefits. While the precise difference depends on several factors, gross climate damages greatly exceed economic benefits under all scenarios evaluated. These findings provide useful insights as DOE prepares to re-evaluate the LNG export program.
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Regional Planning for Just and Reasonable Rates: Reforming Gas Pipeline Review
Published in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law
Natural gas plays an outsized role in the U.S. economy. Under the Natural Gas Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) is responsible for overseeing the orderly development of interstate natural gas pipelines, which facilitate the transmission of natural gas throughout the country. FERC can approve the pipeline only if it finds that it is required by the “public convenience and necessity.” Although FERC should consider a range of factors to determine whether a pipeline will serve the public interest, in practice, it looks primarily to the contracts between a developer and its customers for the purchase of pipeline capacity. If a developer can demonstrate that there is a party willing to pay to use its pipeline, FERC rarely asks questions and almost always finds “public” need. This pipeline-by-pipeline approach to natural gas transmission build-out leads to the construction of unnecessary, underused pipelines, which in turn increases ratepayer costs and decreases consumer welfare. Climate change further increases the risk that pipelines will become obsolete as cities and states move toward electrification. Relying on economic theory, legal history, and policy analysis, we make the case in this paper—pulished in the Columbia Journal of Environmental Law— for FERC’s adoption of regional gas transmission planning.
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Procedural Equity at Public Utility Commissions
Developing a Baseline Assessment of Barriers and Opportunities
Combatting climate change will require major transitions in the energy sector. In the United States, state-level entities like public utility commissions play a key role in this transition. Commissions help decide where and when clean energy displaces fossil-fuel combustion, and how costs associated with energy system investments are passed on to consumers, so their actions can affect emissions outcomes as well as the health, energy, environmental, and affordability burdens faced by disadvantaged communities. Although many Commission processes incorporate some form of stakeholder input or participation, it is often difficult for the public to participate due to the technical and complex nature of these proceedings. These challenges present a procedural justice issue. In this report, we reviewed a range of practices for enhancing procedural justice at Commissions in nine states. This review was based on a structured survey of Commissions’ websites, resources available to prospective participants, and relevant statutes and regulations.
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Policy Integrity Recommendations Reflected in Treasury’s Hydrogen Tax Credit Proposal
On December 22nd, the Treasury Department issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) 45V tax credit for clean hydrogen production. The proposal would establish rules for how electrolyzers can demonstrate compliance with the IRA’s lifecycle greenhouse gas limits—and thus demonstrate their eligibility for the tax credit. The proposed rule includes robust requirements to avoid greenhouse gas emissions: new clean power, annual matching with a transition to hourly matching in 2028, and contracting within the same regional grid. The approach in this proposal aligns with many of the recommendations the Institute for Policy Integrity made in comments to the Treasury Department.
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Supplemental Comments to EPA on Reliability & the Proposed GHG Regulations for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants
In May 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a package of regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. EPA subsequently issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking, re-opening its comment period and soliciting comment on whether to include additional mechanisms to address potential reliability issues. In these comments, we explain why EPA has engaged in reasoned rulemaking and developed a robust administrative record comporting with its mandate to reduce power sector pollution. It remains the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC’s) responsibility to ensure reliable bulk-power system (BPS) operations and to use its corresponding tools to address the wider reliability challenges of the clean energy transition, in coordination with other reliability-related entities.
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The Narrow Reinterpretation
The Oil and Gas Industry’s Retreat from the Broad Federal Permitting Authority It Long Embraced
What's the function of oil and gas permitting agencies? Despite broad statutory grants to federal agencies, oil and gas companies increasingly argue that the role of those agencies is to promote development regardless of whether it is socially desirable. But this “Narrow Reinterpretation,” in addition to lacking textual support, is at odds with longstanding practice. What changed? Not the governing statutes, at least not in pertinent part. But the energy sector has: renewable sources have replaced coal as the primary competitors to oil and gas.
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Supplemental Comments to NHTSA on Proposed Vehicle Fuel-Economy Rule
In August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed to strengthen vehicle fuel-economy standards. Since then, the Environmental Protection Agency has finalized its update to the social cost of greenhouse gases and the Office of Management and Budget has finalized its revisions to Circular A-4. In light of these updates, we submitted a supplemental comment letter reasserting our call for NHTSA to assess regulatory impacts using the best available economics.
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