Recent Projects

The Department of Energy proposed to not increase the efficiency of fluorescent lamp ballasts. We submitted comments noting that DOE fails to analyze the forgone emissions reductions of its proposed determination.

Due to a significant buildout of offshore wind in the mid-Atlantic as a result of falling costs and state policy commitments, new offshore transmission will be required. However, the market rules for the nation’s largest electricity grid operator, PJM, currently provide no practical path for the development of open-access transmission to connect planned but not-yet-developed offshore wind generation. We submitted comments urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to eliminate barriers to these projects, lowering transmission costs and ensuring just and reasonable rates.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission is evaluating different options for electric utility participation in centralized electricity markets, as part of the Colorado Transmission Coordination Act. We submitted comments encouraging the Commission to move the state to a centralized market, which would help accomplish energy goals and would benefit generators, utilities, and customers.

We submitted comments to the New York Public Service Commission on the state’s resource adequacy needs, discussing how policies can best be aligned under existing mechanisms.

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources is adopting a program that incentivizes the adoption of energy storage resources with the aim of displacing high-pollution resources during peak periods of energy use. We submitted comments that explain potential risks of energy storage integration and encourage Massachusetts to adjust its clean peak policies to maximize the emissions reduction potential of the state’s energy storage resources.

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proposed rule revisions to a recent clean energy bill, providing more information on how social cost of greenhouse gases (SCGG) estimates will be used. We submitted comments encouraging best practices for SCGG application that will help CPUC monetize climate externalities and weigh the costs and benefits of various decisions.

The Albany County Supreme Court rejected a challenge to New York’s Zero-Emissions Credit (ZEC) program, which pays nuclear power plants for the value of avoided carbon emissions. The legal challenge focused largely on the state’s decision to use the Interagency Working Group’s Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) to value emissions.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and Minnesota Department of Commerce requested comments on their proposal to consider resource planning scenarios using a range of both environmental and regulatory costs. Minnesota has been a leader among states on incorporating environmental externalities into electricity policy, and our comments encourage the agencies to continue requiring the use of the social cost of carbon.