The Energy & Natural Resources Blog
By Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie
The next time you are flying in or out of McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, take a look at the valley that spreads just southeast of the city. Over there, just behind the mountain range that rims the edge of Las Vegas, lies El Dorado Solar Energy Zone – the epicenter of Nevada’s solar revolution …
A recent New York Times article (“Windmill and Solar Panels, or Nuclear Reactors”, NY Times, 11/14/16) highlights what could be an interesting dilemma for both developing and industrialized nations seeking to de-carbonize in tandem with the Paris Accord. The article describes the tension between the development of concentrated solar power (CSP) and the potential use …
On October 25, 2016, the federal district court in the Northern District of California approved the United States’ Amended Consent Decree to resolve claims against German automaker Volkswagen AG and related entities (VW) and to settle allegations of cheating emissions tests, deceiving customers, and excess nitrous oxides (NOx) emissions from VW and Audi diesel engine …
The Energy Choice Initiative, State Question No. 3, received close to three quarters of the votes cast on Tuesday. The question on the ballot read: Shall Article 1 of the Nevada Constitution be amended to require the Legislature to provide by law for the establishment of an open, competitive retail electric energy market that prohibits …
As interest in the Western Energy Imbalance Market (“EIM”) grows, regulators at the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) are facing concerns, once again, about carbon leakage from the state’s mandatory cap and trade program under AB 32. In the context of carbon markets, leakage describes the phenomenon in which a local (in this case, California) …
Continue reading “California’s Carbon Concern: Leakage from the Imbalance Market”
With the Clean Power Plan currently stayed in federal court, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper appears to be considering his own options to act unilaterally on climate change. In a draft executive order leaked this week, the Governor’s office recounts the challenges of clean air and climate change and directs Colorado’s state agencies as follows: Colorado …
On June 1, 2016, Arizona Public Service Company (“APS”) filed an application for a rate increase with the Arizona Corporation Commission (“ACC”). APS is requesting an increase in base rate revenue of $165.9 million or 5.74% net of existing adjustor mechanisms. APS also seeks to transfer to base rates $267.6 million that is currently collected …
On June 30, the EPA issued its proposed rules for the design details of the Clean Energy Incentive Plan (CEIP), a component of the (now stayed) Clean Power Plan (CPP). Comments are due by August 29, 2016. Further information about the CEIP can be found on the EPA Clean Power Plan website and the National …