Recent Projects

We recently submitted comments to the New York Public Service Commission on how the Commission should develop an interim successor to its net metering policy, and how distributed energy resources should be valued in the future. We filed the comments jointly with the Environmental Defense Fund. To begin to move the retail electricity markets toward efficient and accurate recognition of the value of distributed energy resources, we suggest that the Commission should enhance its existing net energy metering policy to align compensation with the system benefits provided by distributed energy resources; establish a fully unbundled retail price structure; and specifically account for the environmental benefits of distributed energy resources in future pricing structures.

We recently submitted comments in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) proposed rule to restrict the use of sunlamps used for artificial tanning. We concluded that although the proposed rule takes a significant step in reducing the risks of artificial tanning, the FDA should strengthen the justification for this proposed rule.

We recently submitted an amicus brief in the litigation over the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which regulates carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. A group of coal companies and states is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to strike down the rule, arguing that it represents an unprecedented expansion of the EPA’s regulatory authority. Our brief shows that, in fact, there are regulatory precedents for every aspect of the rule that petitioners claim is unprecedented. Our analysis of past EPA regulations and court rulings reveals that the Clean Power Plan is consistent with decades of Clean Air Act practice under administrations of both parties.

On February 19th, our Policy Director, Jayni Hein, presented at the Institute for Energy Law’s Annual Oil and Gas Law Conference in Houston. Speaking on a panel titled “How Revenues Should be Collected for the Use of Federal Lands for Energy Development.”

We recently submitted an amicus brief in a case challenging two large coal leases approved by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The case, WildEarth Guardians v. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, is being heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. We believe that BLM used an irrational assumption about coal supply and demand in its environmental impact statement for the Wright Area coal leases in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Because of this flawed assumption, BLM’s presentation of the climate consequences of leasing, versus taking no action, is inaccurate and misleading, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Concurrently with issuing its final Clean Power Plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, the EPA issued a set of proposed federal plan requirements and model trading rules to provide states guidance as they determine their strategies to comply with the Clean Power Plan. We recently submitted comments to the agency on how these guidelines can be improved to best reduce compliance costs and promote effectiveness of the plan.

The National Jurist has named Richard Revesz to its list of the 25 “Most Influential People in Legal Education.”