Sustainable Energy Law Notebook

  The Louisiana State University (LSU) Journal of Energy Law & Resources is organising a conference on comparative offshore oil and gas law regimes between the United Kingdom, Norway and the United States . The conference will take place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA , on 12-13 March 2015 . It is structured around four topics : licensing systems , third party access to offshore infrastructure , license (lease) terms , and environmental, health and safety .   I am glad to be associated to this project and will be presenting the Norwegian licensing regime . See you in Baton Rouge?   More information on the event on the LSU website: http://www1.law.lsu.edu/cle/seminars/jelr/ And  brochure : http://host.law.lsu.edu/lsucle/15JELR.pdf    

Hereafter are reproduced the parts of the State of the Union Speech hold by U.S. president Obama on 28 January 2014 which are related to energy and climate change issues.        

A lot has been said and written on the Keystone pipeline multi-phase project  which transports oil sand bitumen between Alberta, Canada, to the United States and ultimately to the Gulf Coast Area near Houston. The currently debated phases awaiting approval concern phases III and IV of the project (so-called " Keystone XL proposal "). Phases I and II are completed. Here follows a transcript of President Obama interview with the New York Times (NYT) realised on 24 July 2013, where he addressed the issue and summed up his last stance on the issue (underlinings are mine):

The U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, has adopted on 17 May 2012 a preliminary ruling, so-called affirmative preliminary determination, in the antidumping duty (AD) investigation related to the imports of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) cells from China. The United States opposes  the anti-dumping tariffs applied by China on Chinese silicon PV manufacturers, which it finds contrary to World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules . The final decision ("determination") from the Department of Commerce is scheduled for September/October 2012. The text of the preliminary ruling is accessible her (PDF).

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...

On 30 March 2011, President Obama hold a speech on energy policy at the Georgetown University in Washington . The speech gives a glimpse over the priorities of its 2012 campaign in the energy fields, few days after he announced his candidacy to re-election. Below follow some quotes. A short assessment The speech is inscribed in the continuity of his previous initiatives (e.g., the Clean Energy Standard ), which does not mean less ambition in terms of renewable energies, but is also pretty realistic as of the use of conventional and unconventional energy sources . While coal is curiously not really mentionned (except clean coal), nuclear energy and shale gas are part of the US energy future depicted by Obama. Oil drilling (onshore and offshore) is not either a taboo. The support to renewable energy sources seems to be endorsed, while the apparent consensus hides that much remains to be done, in particular for a competitive and environmentally friendly use of renewables. The con...

I would like to share with you this Infographic (full size picture here ) forwarded by Ecopolitology , which I thank for the information. It points out the pros and cons of ethanol with regards to cornfields in the light of recent debates in the United States . This allows me to mention that tomorrow, 29 March 2011, is the deadline for submission of responses to the public consultation conducted by the European Commission on the Preparation of a report on additional sustainability measures at EU level for solid and gaseous biomass used in electricity, heating and cooling . Consultation page here . The consultation does not relate to biofuels and bioliquids, but to other energy uses of biomass. It focuses on the necessity to adopt additional sustainability criteria , following the entry into force of Directive 2009/28/EC and the adoption in February 2010 of a Commission's report on sustainability requirements for the use of solid and gaseous biomass sources in electricity, heati...

Along December 2010 and a few weeks before the official visit of President Hu Jintao to the United States on 19 January , clean energy technologies have been raised several times as a core trade issue between the two countries . The most dramatic event was the complaint made by the U.S. government against China's subsidies to wind energy technologies. The most positive aspects of the bilateral trade negotiations relates to smart grid technologies. Wind Power Equipments: The United States contests the legality of China's subsidies to wind energy technologies under WTO rules On 22 December, the United States came with a new claim against China's subidy policy in favour of its national wind energy industry . The U.S. government accuses China of subsidising manufacturers of wind turbines equipments and related components in a manner that goes against WTO rules . Chinese manufaturers would have benefited from government grants since 2008 under the national Special Fund for Wind ...

The conflict between the European Union (EU) and the United States regarding the situation of dumping created by the US imports of subsidised biodiesel into the EU has just reached another level. In today's Official Journal of the EU (OJ L 211 of 12.8.2010), the Commission has adopted two regulations opening for an investigation regarding the possible circumvention of countervailing measures imposed in 2009 to biodiesel products originating in the United States . Following the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No. 598/2009 of 7 July 2009, anti-dumping and countervailling measures were adopted on imported biodiesel for a duration of 5 years on the grounds that: " biodiesel, and all blends, [...] produced in the US and exported at subsidised price to the Community had affected the economic situation of the biodiesel producers in the Community " (para. 33). Similarly, and in addition to the fact that " the subsidised import volumes from the USA increased significan...

Following the excellent post by Michael Hoexter on his Blog GreenThoughts , it is worth discussing the GASLAND documentary released in the United States in 2010 relating to the environmental damages of natural gas drilling in the onland territory of the United States. The documentary sets the lights on a particular method of drilling by stimulation called "hydraulic fracturing." This method, also termed "fracing", creates fractures in the rock for the extraction of oil and natural gas. Hydraulic fracturing has been known since the 1940s, but the method of horizontal fracturing at high-volume is more recent. The documentary - After receiving a leasing proposal from a natural gas company in 2008, the author of this documentary, Josh Fox, decided to get more information by hilmself, touring the US states where hydraulic fracturing is already occuring. This resulted in the production of a "grand public" documentary. (Click on the picture to play the trailer...

Humorists can also be a source of self-reflection on the sustainable energy paradigm throughout the last decades, and the time and efforts it takes to reach energy independence. To play the video, click on the picture or here : Jon Stewart Daily Show , 16 June 2010.

I would like to give here another example of the current international competition in the making of tomorrow's green industry . The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) a total of $8.6 million under the Recovery Act . Four separate projects will be conducted at Berkeley Lab: development of materials able to absorb carbon dioxide emitted from power plants . As described by one of the project leader, this project ' would be the next generation of materials to use in carbon capture and storage (CCS). The current capture process uses huge amounts of energy - roughly 30 percent of the power generated by a power plant. We're hoping we can get it down to 10 percent '; use of common soil bacterium to generate biofuels . The project aims to ' replace gasoline and other petroleum-derived fuels with transportation fuels derived from the solar energy stored in plant biomass. The goal ... is to genetically engine...

On 12 May 2010, a proposal for an American Power Act (APA) has been introduced by two renowned U.S. Senators, John Kerry and Joe Liberman . The bill has as purpose to " secure the energy future of the United States, to provide incentives for the domestic production of clean energy technology, to achieve meaningful pollution reductions, to create jobs, and for other purposes ." The arguments put forward vy Senator Kerry basically 5, or as he puts, 5 "principles": " Consumers will come out on top " by redistributing revenues not spent on U.S. deficit to consumers; developing domestic energy generation, or " We need energy made in America "; invest in innovative energy technologies (all energy sources concerned) for allowing the US to " regain its competitive edge and lead the global clean energy economy ;" adopt an appropriate approach to the three main pollution sectors (power plants, heavy industry and transportation) in matter of car...

APX to manage two additional compliance REC tracking systems One could read this morning on the Green Power Network website that two additional state public utilities commission, in Missouri and North Carolina, had selected APX Inc. as their tracking system for renewable energy certificates (RECs) (decisions adopted in January and February 2010 respectively). APX will provide registry services to the two tracking system, for compliance purposes, under respectively the North American Renewables Registry (NARR) and the North Carolina Renewable Energy Tracking System (NC-RETS). Details about the two compliance systems In North Carolina , the system will work as follows: " NC-RETS will track each North Carolina electric power supplier's compliance against its individual statutory requirement, and its contribution toward the statewide aggregate requirements for energy supplied by swine and poultry waste resources. NC-RETS will also track each electric power supplier's use o...

On Thursday 24 September, Claude Turmes, Member of the European Parliament (EP), and recognised leader of climate and renewable energy policies at the European assembly, will address the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). This blog reported on several works of the CPUC, and I cannot be more glad to see the reflection on experience sharing and best practices in the are of regulation of renewables and energy efficiency be concretised in such a way. So, book your agenda. Here is the flyer . Claude Turmes was in particular rapporteur in the following EP legislative procedures : Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources; Regulation (EC) 1099/2008 on energy statistics; European Parliament Resolution of 13 March 2008 on Global Energy Efficiency and Renewaeble Energy Fund (GEEREF); EP Resolution of 29 September 2005 on the share of renewable energy in the EU - Proposals for concrete actions; and before that the second (and former) electricty ...

After discussing in a previous message the prospects of offshore drilling along the U.S. coasts, I wanted to explore the problematic of offshore wind power development and understand the current barriers to its take-off in the U.S. A good start was Cape Wind by W. Williams and R. Whitcomb which tells the story of "America's first offshore wind mills." (See Cape Wind project website) The book opens on a 2001 public hearing meeting hold on a proposal to build a large electrical-generation project in the so-called "Nantucket Sound" area (Massachusetts, 150 km south Boston). The project is promoted by the company Cape Wind Associates and aims to install wind turbines along the coast of "Cape Cod," the elected area of the American east coast elite. Chapter 1 introduces some key characters: historian David McCullough, one of the strongest opponents to the project (but relatively absent in the rest of the book), and Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associa...

The Natural Resources Committee of the House of Representatives started on February 11 the first of a series of three hearings on the U.S. offshore oil and gas drilling policy. I summarise hereafter the main elements of the current discussion. Why a ban on offshore drilling? The background for the current discussions is the end of two bans on offshore drilling in most of the U.S. waters. The bans consist of: (1) a presidential ban adopted by President George Bush Senior in 1989, in reaction to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and lifted by his son G.W. Bush in July 2008; (2) a Congressional ban from 1981, under the form of a moratorium, renewable each September, and which expired in September 2008. These bans restricted areas that could be offered by the Minerals Management Service (MMS) for outer continental shelf (OCS) leasing. The remaining restrictions concern: the “Presidential Withdrawal”, which excludes all marine sanctuaries from oil and gas leasing activities;...

I would like to report here on a seminar I attended this week on the topic in title, at UC Berkeley Law School, where Prof. Oona Hathaway presented brillantly her views. She classifies challenges into three categories: framing, structure and substance. I reproduce hereafter my notes from her presentation. 1. Framing, answering shortcomings of previous administration and attacks. Several U.S. politicians expressed strong criticisms against the international institutions, and in particular the United Nations (U.N.)system and the necessity the defend the country sovereignty. Prof. Hathaway quoted among others Congressman Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan (the latter having said that UNCLOS "represents a permenant loss of national sovereingty"). The previous decades saw the withdrawal of the U.S. from several international treaties, and a switch in public opinion regarding the U.S. role in international politics. Only 35 % of the world population see the U.S. as an important international...

For those not familiar with the Superbowl, one of the side entertainment to the sport event is the competition for getting the best TV-ad (at the most dramatic moment of course). And it was with interest that we could watch this year a General Electric advertisement featuring smart grid technologies (on the song "If I only had a brain" from the Wizard of Oz). Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1XqLPa9BoA I will shortly comment on some aspects of the smart grid in a latter message. But to introduce the theme, "smart grid" technologies aim, among other things, to manage energy more efficienctly in particular at the consumption level, increase energy storage capacity (such as in the transport sector), work on transmission and distribution systems, develop large-scale integration of renewable energy.

There is here an obvious coordination of strategies and views on the manner to tackle the financial crisis. Both the European Union (EU) and the U.S. new administration see energy security, in all its different components, as a vital sector for the well-being and growth of their economy in the short-term. The so-called “economic stimulus package” under discussion by the two Houses of the U.S. Congress foresees to invest in clean energy and green jobs, for an approximate amount for $145.3 billion. The House of Representatives have already approved $819 billion under the stimulus bill on January 28, 2009. The bill will now be examined by the Senate. Hereafter are summarised some of the actions and corresponding stimulus instruments (See Apollo Alliance for details): towards a modernised and “smart” electricity grid : funding for R&D, pilot projects, and federal matching funds for the Smart Grid Investment Program, loan guarantees for investment and implementation of infrastructure pr...