Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

The European Union (EU) has announced on 11 August 2011 that it has requested WTO consultations with Canada concerning the RES policy of Ontario , one of the Canadian provinces, that the EU deems to be contrary to international tade rules . Japan had previously initiated a WTO dispute settlement procedure on the same legislation on 13 September 2010, followed by the establishment of a panel on 20 July 2011 . On the American continent, a power company located in Texas, Mesa Power, has challenged the same measure under the rules of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (see text of the Notice of Intent before NAFTA here). The EU argues that Ontario's RES policy provides subsidies to producers of renewable energy but make the support conditional to the use of domestic technology. The Ontario's legislation at stake is the Ontario Green Energy and Economy Act (OGEA) . In its press release, the EU Commission describes the legislation as such: " The OGEA empow...

The needs to regulate shale gas exploration and exploitation, as well as hydraulic fracturing are subject to discussion all around the globe these days. Some countries have prohibited the practice, like in France in May 2011, others see shale gas as a real answer to energy dependency, like in Poland or the US (see in the case of the US, the wider initiative " Blueprint for a Secure Energy Future "). The US is about to re-discuss the issue, following the publication of a draft report on 11 August 2011 by the Natural Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) - Safety of Shale Gas Development (website here ). The draft report is part of a mission attributed in May 2011 to the subcommitte of the SEAB and which purpose is to come forward with" recommendations to improve the safety and environmental performance of natural gas hydraulic fracturing from shale formations - harnessing a vital domestic energy resource while ensuring the safe...