On February 17, 2022, by a 3-2 vote, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) adopted a new Interim Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions Policy Statement (GHG Policy Statement) setting forth an interim framework for...more
On October 29, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal of the D.C. Circuit’s decision vacating the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, the Trump Administration’s action to address CO2 emissions from existing...more
On August 3, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) rejected the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) environmental analysis of a group of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)...more
On June 26, 2021, in the waning hours of Oregon’s legislative session, the legislature passed House Bill 2021 (H.B. 2021 or the Act) - Oregon’s take on sweeping climate legislation for retail electricity generation. Notably,...more
On May 17, 2021, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed the Washington Climate Commitment Act (CCA), which will create an economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and create a system in which GHG credits are auctioned...more
After four tries to enact a low carbon fuel standard, Governor Jay Inslee on May 17, 2021, signed HB 1091, new legislation that will establish a Clean Fuels Program (CFP) designed to limit the carbon intensity of...more
In an address from Pittsburgh, “the City of Bridges,” President Biden on March 31, 2021, proposed the “American Jobs Plan,” which would spend approximately $2 trillion over the next ten years on a wide variety of...more
On March 22, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued an order setting forth new standards it will use to evaluate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with natural gas pipeline projects. The order,...more
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed H.R. 133, the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” an agglomeration of dozens of individual pieces of legislation which together total nearly 6,000 pages. While general press...more
12/31/2020
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Seattle City Light (City Light) has announced that it will significantly expand its “Energy Efficiency as a Service” (EEaS) pilot program in 2021. As we have described in more detail here and here, City Light’s program...more
On October 22, 2020, the Oregon Supreme Court rejected claims by youth climate activists seeking to expand the state’s public trust doctrine to address climate change. The court ruled that the state did not have an...more
Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California challenging the constitutionality of California’s linkage of its cap-and-trade program to a similar...more
Capping a dramatic but ineffective legislative session, Oregon Governor Kate Brown on March 10, 2020, issued Executive Order No. 20-04, “Directing State Agencies to Take Actions to Reduce and Regulate Greenhouse Gas...more
Based on the success of the Metered Energy Efficiency Transaction Structure (MEETS) developed at Seattle’s Bullitt Center, the Seattle City Council adopted an ordinance last year directing Seattle City Light (City Light) to...more
On July 30, the Washington Utility and Transportation Commission (UTC) and Department of Commerce (Commerce) will initiate the lengthy process of developing administrative rules to implement the newly-enacted Clean Energy...more
As part of its comprehensive effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Washington, the 2019 legislature adopted a new measure, HB 1257, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Washington’s commercial building...more
As part of a package of bills aimed at reducing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, the 2019 Washington State legislature passed legislation that should accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), as well as...more
After several years of fruitless effort, Washington’s 2019 legislature passed and Governor Inslee signed the Washington Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA), which requires Washington’s electric utilities to phase out...more