The Electric Grid and Its Regulators—FERC and State Public Utility Commissions, a New Chapter in the Sabin Center’s Handbook, Legal Tools For Climate Adaptation Advocacy

Payal Nanavati Columbia Law School Class of ‘17 Climate change has already begun to force elements of the electric grid to operate in conditions materially different from those for which they were designed. Persistent high temperatures, heavy or reduced precipitation, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise can all affect grid […]

Wyoming Federal Court Upholds Law Criminalizing “Unlawful Collection of Resource Data”

A July 2016 federal court decision has upheld Wyoming laws that impose criminal and civil penalties for collection of “resource data”[1] when the collection involves trespassing on private lands, even when the trespass is unintentional, and even when the trespass is incidental to the collection. The Wyoming legislature enacted these […]

Upstream and Downstream Emissions: Understanding the D.C. Circuit Decisions Upholding FERC’s Environmental Analysis for LNG Export Terminals

By Michael Burger and Jessica Wentz Last month, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued two decisions upholding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s environmental impact analysis for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Louisiana (No. 14-1249) and Texas (No. 14-1275). In both cases, the court rejected claims that FERC […]