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  • Ünel Named to Advisory Council for New York Electric Grid Operator

    The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) has appointed Policy Integrity’s Executive Director, Dr. Burçin Ünel, to serve on its Environmental Advisory Council. The Council provides NYISO with information, analysis, and expert perspectives on state and federal environmental policies to help it better achieve its mission of maintaining reliability of the bulk electric system and administering competitive wholesale electricity markets. In her role on the Council, Dr. Ünel will use her expertise in utility regulation and energy policy to help NYISO build and maintain New York's “grid of the future.”

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  • Shaping Connecticut’s Energy Storage Strategy

    Energy storage can play an important role in a transition to clean energy, but only if it’s deployed within an effective policy framework. The Connecticut Public Utility Regulatory Authority (PURA) adopted our recommendations to target its energy storage incentives to areas with the highest differential between the highest and lowest marginal emissions rates so batteries could ultimately lead to reductions in emissions. In addition, PURA directed the Connecticut Green Bank to review our comments when setting the scope of the program's marketing plan.

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  • Policy Integrity Research Shapes New Federal Climate Damage Estimates

    In its updated climate damage estimates for greenhouse gas emisisons, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cited Policy Integrity scholarship and analysis dozens of times and adopted some of our key arguments. EPA calculated damages based on averaging three damage functions, one of which was based on a paper by Peter Howard and Thomas Sterner. In setting the scope of damages to examine, the agency also adopted Policy Integrity's argument for the need to consider global damages. EPA similarly relied on our arguments about the need to use lower discount rates when assessing the value of future damages.

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  • Richard Revesz Nominated to Lead OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

    President Biden announced his intent to nominate Richard Revesz to serve as Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs within the U.S Office of Management and Budget. Revesz is AnBryce Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at NYU School of Law, where he directs the Institute for Policy Integrity. He is one of the nation’s leading voices in the fields of environmental and regulatory law and policy. Revesz will take a leave of absence from the Institute for Policy Integrity during this period. Jack Lienke and Burçin Ünel will serve as Interim Co-Executive Directors of the Institute.

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  • Testimony in House Natural Resources Hearing on Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Leasing

    On January 20, 2022 the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources hosted a remote oversight hearing titled, “What More Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas Leasing Means for Achieving U.S. Climate Targets.” Witnesses included Policy Integrity's Max Sarinsky, whose full testimony is available here. Watch the hearing recording here.

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  • Shaping Virginia’s Energy Storage

    Virginia recently adopted aggressive decarbonization legislation, which recognized that energy storage has an important role to play in decarbonizing the power sector. The Virginia Energy Storage Task Force (VESTF) was convened to help guide the deployment of energy storage resources. Senior Attorney Justin Gundlach served on the task force, and VESTF's final report drew extensively on Policy Integrity's research, including its reports on energy storage policy, valuing DERs, and DERs' emissions reduction potential.

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  • Policy Integrity and Partners Form New Initiative on Climate Risk and Resilience Law

    As the climate crisis intensifies, it is crucial that policymakers strengthen protections from the dangers of climate change to our nation’s financial system and the millions of people who rely on it to sustain the American economy. The Institute for Policy Integrity, alongside several partners, has founded the Initiative on Climate Risk and Resilience Law to advocate for smarter policies on this issue.

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  • Department of Interior Delays, Reassesses Trump-Era Rule on Fossil Fuel Royalty Rates

    The Department of Interior delayed the effective date of a Trump-era rule that lowers the royalty burden on corporations extracting fossil fuels on public lands. We provided significant input on the review of the rule, helping guide ONRR’s decision to delay the rule and further examine its legality and impact.

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  • McTeer Toney Gives Testimony on Climate Risk Disclosure in House Committee Hearing

    Heather McTeer Toney, Climate Justice Liaison for the Environmental Defense Fund and Senior Advisor to Moms Clean Air Force, testified in a hearing on corporate climate risk held by the House Financial Services Committee. Included with her submitted testimony is our report with the Environmental Defense Fund on how the Securities and Exchange Commission can issue new, mandatory disclosure rules focused on climate risk.

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  • Federal Court Voids Trump’s Counterproductive ACE Rule

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously struck down the Trump administration’s toothless replacement of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which sought to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s power sector. Richard Revesz and Dr. Burçin Ünel’s article on energy storage and greenhouse gas emissions was cited in the court’s opinion.

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