State public utility commissions (PUCs) could make major progress toward achieving energy efficiency if they utilized the tools available to them, according to a study released August 14 by Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law. The report, “Public Utilities Commissions & Energy Efficiency: A Handbook of Legal & Regulatory Tools […]
Shelley Welton
61 posts
by Irene Shulman, Intern Climate change has the potential to affect the availability and affordability of insurance across most major insurance categories. Regulation changes, resource cost and availability, and frequency of natural disasters will impact both insurers and policyholders, and thus, are important factors to assess. The National Association of […]
by Casey Graetz, Intern On August 7 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an official memorandum and order to suspend final licensing decisions on new licenses and on license renewals for nuclear power plants. This action by the NRC does not affect the agency’s review of license applications, and only […]
By Shelley Welton, Deputy Director and Fellow The lawsuit of Alec L. and several other young climate change activists was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today. In Alec L. et al. v. Lisa P. Jackson et al., 11-cv-02235 (D.D.C. 2012), five teenagers and children […]
by Shelley Welton Deputy Director & Earth Institute Climate Law Fellow Earlier this month, citing reliability concerns, PJM, the mid-Atlantic’s regional transmission operator, asked FirstEnergy Corp. of Ohio to keep three coal-fired power plants in operation for the next three years that the company had previously scheduled to be shut […]
After years as a political prisoner, Mohamed Nasheed was elected President of the Republic of the Maldives in 2008 in the first democratic election in that Indian Ocean nation’s history. Trained as a marine scientist, President Nasheed emerged as one of the leading voices of small island nations threatened by […]
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Fellow As I blogged about last October, the Northeast’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is currently undergoing its 2012 program review. This review will look at many aspects of the program’s design and functioning, with the aim of determining whether major reforms are necessary […]
by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Fellow MIT released an interdisciplinary study on December 5, 2011, that examines “The Future of the Electric Grid.” Among many interesting findings, it nicely details the challenges we will face in adapting the electric grid to accommodate all the anticipated renewable resources coming on-line […]