While federal policy can have a significant impact on renewable energy development, local policy—and local sentiment—can be just as consequential. Between 2018-2023, at least 30% of utility-scale wind and solar projects were cancelled during the siting process, largely because of community opposition, local ordinances, and zoning. For the last five […]
Wind Power
23 posts
Over the last five years, several states, including New York (2020), California (2022), Illinois (2023), and Michigan (2023) have adopted comprehensive permitting reforms that curtail the power of local governments to block development of large-scale renewable energy projects. In two states, New York and Michigan, local governments have sued to […]
Over the last 10 years, dozens of townships in Michigan have effectively halted renewable energy development by adopting severe zoning restrictions, such as moratoriums. Many of these local restrictions, however, may become moot after November 29, 2024, when a new state law that reforms the siting process for large-scale wind, […]
Renewable energy projects have encountered significant opposition in at least 45 states. In addition, at least 228 local laws, ordinances and policies have been enacted in 35 states to restrict renewable energy projects, according to a report, Opposition to Renewable Energy Facilities in the United States, issued on May 31 […]
On June 30, 2022, the State of California joined the State of New York in adopting legislation that allows state authorities to bypass local laws in permitting large-scale renewable energy projects. California’s new law, AB 205, gives the California Energy Commission (the “commission”) authority to issue a certificate for any: […]
On Monday, July 27, the Sabin Center filed comments with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in support of the proposed Vineyard Wind energy facility offshore Massachusetts on behalf of the group Win with South Fork Wind (“Win with Wind”). Win with Wind is a client of the Renewable […]
Each month, Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP (APKS) and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law collect and summarize developments in climate-related litigation, which we also add to our U.S. and non-U.S. climate litigation charts. If you know of any cases we have missed, please email us at columbiaclimate at gmail dot com. […]
by Romany Webb and Justin Gundlach There has been much talk in recent weeks about pricing carbon to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Earlier this month, a group of former Republican cabinet members proposed adoption of a nationwide carbon price, starting at $40 per ton. That seems unlikely, however. Even the […]