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ESG Job 1? Climate Change. Key Tool? Supply Chain Contracts.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) encompasses an array of issues so broad that it can seem overwhelming. It includes addressing climate change, eliminating forced labor, preventing exposure to toxic chemicals, and...more

Biden Signs Historic Climate Legislation

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) signed by President Biden on August 16, 2022, features $369 billion of incentives to dramatically reduce U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Future blog posts will analyze individual...more

The Supreme Court Casts a Shadow Over the Fight Against Climate Change (and So Much More)

On June 30, the last day of an historic term, the Supreme Court issued its decision in West Virginia v. EPA. As expected, the Court struck down EPA's 2015 Clean Power Plan (CPP), which was intended to reduce greenhouse gas...more

Carbon Offsets 101: Big Gains (and Some Growing Pains) in Forest Carbon Offset Markets

Companies looking to reduce their climate impacts and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions use a variety of tools to do so: buying renewable electricity (especially solar and wind); improving the efficiency of energy-hungry...more

Washington State Enacts Cap-and-Trade and Clean Fuels Legislation

In an historic move, the Washington State Legislature passed two major pieces of climate change legislation in the closing days of its recent session over the weekend of April 24-25, 2021. ...more

New Chairman Glick Aims to Amp Up FERC's Response to Climate Change

On the day after his inauguration, President Biden designated Commissioner Richard Glick as the new Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Chairman Glick, a Democrat, joined FERC in 2017, bringing...more

Trump Orders Ban on Power Equipment Transactions Linked to "Foreign Adversaries"

On May 1, 2020, President Trump signed an Executive Order on “Securing the United States Bulk-Power System,” reflecting the administration’s larger concern over national security risks from foreign participation in key U.S....more

Carbon Trading Comes to Washington State as Supreme Court Partially Restores Climate Regulation

With recent action by the Washington State Supreme Court, carbon trading is coming soon to the Evergreen State—though on a much more limited basis than Governor Jay Inslee and the State Department of Ecology had hoped....more

Three Earth Day Bills Punctuate Washington State’s Run of Climate and Energy Legislation

On Monday—Earth Day—the Washington Legislature’s final passage of three bills put an exclamation point on a string of significant climate and energy legislation....more

Washington State Aims for 100% Clean Electricity

The Washington State Legislature is completing work on major legislation that would require the state’s electric utilities to eliminate all greenhouse gas emissions from their generating fleet within the next quarter century....more

Energy Efficiency Resource Advocates Challenge ISO-New England Attempt to Reduce Compensation

Energy efficiency resource advocates recently petitioned FERC to block an attempt by the ISO New England to reduce the compensation paid for energy efficiency in its Forward Capacity Auctions....more

Children’s Climate Crusade Litigation: Trump Administration Files Opening Brief in 9th Circuit

The Juliana v. U.S. climate change litigation (better known as part of the Children’s Climate Crusade) is back in the spotlight. The case was filed in Oregon U.S. District Court in 2015 on behalf of future generations to...more

D.C. Circuit Sinks FERC Hydro License for Failure to Adequately Consider Past Environmental Harm

Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit torpedoed a hydroelectric license issued in 2013 to Alabama Power Company because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) “declined to...more

Climate change Regulation Starts to Take Shape in Washington State

In 2015, the Washington Legislature failed to act on Governor Jay Inslee’s cap-and-trade proposal to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Since then, all branches of Washington State government, as...more

Is Carbon Capture and Sequestration the Best or Even an Achievable Control Technology To Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions from...

EPA’s proposed greenhouse gas emission standards for new power plants rest on the agency’s finding that carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technologies are “achievable” and the “best system” for the reduction of carbon...more

EPA Reissues Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards for New Power Plants

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has re-proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for new fossil-fuel power plants, exercising existing authority under section 111(b) of the Clean Air Act. Proposed rule...more

Sweeping Overhaul of Federal Energy Tax Credits Is Unveiled

This week, Senator Max Baucus, the outgoing Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee who has been developing a comprehensive overhaul and simplification of the federal income tax, introduced a bill that would scrap 42...more

The Pacific Coast Action Plan On Climate And Energy – Will It Make A Difference?

Late last month, the Governors of California, Oregon, and Washington joined with the Premier of British Columbia to sign a Pacific Coast Climate Action Plan on Climate and Energy (PCAP). Like its ill-fated predecessor, the...more

CPUC Rejects Constitutional Challenge to RPS Rules

In a matter of great interest to owners of renewable generating facilities throughout the West, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) has finally responded to the constitutional challenge raised by Cowlitz PUD...more

DOE Asserts More Control Over BPA

In the wake of the Bonneville Power Administration’s recent hiring controversy, the Department of Energy’s headquarters has issued a memo announcing its exercise of more control over BPA’s decision-making. The stimulus for...more

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