Why Is MHK Lumped With Hydropower?

August 24, 2011

Let me begin by saying that I don’t harbor any ill-will towards hydropower.   In fact, I’m a fan.  I started my career in FERC’s Office of General Counsel as an attorney-advisor on electric and hydro issues.  As a baby-attorney, I have fond memories of plowing through the Federal Power Act’s rich, more than half-century [...]

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Wanted: FERC Lawyers, $200 an Hour

July 26, 2011

I’m still parsing through the FERC recent Order No. 1000, the long-anticipated final rule on transmission planning and cost allocation. But as with most FERC regulations, I first skip the main course for dessert – which for me is the oft-overlooked, OMB-mandated analysis of information-reporting and public burden requirements for new regulations.
Here, FERC estimates [...]

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Social Media for Renewable Energy Lawyers & Professionals

June 27, 2011

I’m holding a webinar on July 6, 2011 on Social Media for Energy Professionals – learn how to keep up to date with new developments , find business opportunities and build relationships with clients and colleagues. Like many of you, I practice in the energy regulatory space. I know how difficult – and [...]

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My First Hand Experience With Eco-Tourism

June 27, 2011

I’ve just returned from a five-day vacation with my family in the Berkshires. Yet, my work in the renewables industry was never far from my mind. It’s not because I spent my vacation working – though as a law firm owner, I routinely check-in to the office at least once a day even [...]

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Law Offices PURPA Joint Purchase Obligation Terminated In California FIT Case

June 27, 2011

And so, a case that began with an attempt to extract feed-in tariff rates for CHP services in California ends with the termination of the California Utilities’ mandatory purchase obligation under PURPA for facilities of 20 MW or more. In return the utilities have agreed, pursuant to a separate settlement, to new [...]

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MHK News Round Up

June 27, 2011

As you’ll see from some of my other posts today, I’ve just returned from vacation so I’m pretty busy. But it’s been too long since my last posts – and I wanted to share a couple of recent stories that I’d blog about if I had more time.
Students create a new wave energy device [...]

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OREC Website Up

June 27, 2011

As many of you know, I’m a co-founder of, and counsel to the Ocean Renewable Energy Coalition or OREC. Last month, we launched our new website which was redesigned (with my input) by a terrific developer, Nick Hamze. Take a look around the site, or visit our files, including this compendium of OREC’s [...]

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Testimony before House Natural Resources Committee Highlights Hurdles Faced by Small Renewables, Including MHK Developers

June 2, 2011

On June 1, 2011, Dan Reicher, formerly of Director of Google’s Office of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives and now, Director of Stanford’s Center for Energy Policy and Finance testified before the House Natural Resources Committee on obstacles to renewable energy deployment – both on public lands and more generally. Though Reicher discussed [...]

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Commerce Clause and Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS)

April 5, 2011

On March 29, 2011, I co-presented a webinar on the Commerce Clause implications for state renewable portfolio standards RPS), along with Ed Holt, of Ed Holt & Associates. The webinar grew out of our paper of the same name, which was prepared for the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) and [...]

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The Atlantic Wind Connection: Oh, what a tangled wire….

April 5, 2011

Atlantic Wind Connection’s (AWC) proposed undersea backbone transmission line that will serve as a gathering point for power from multiple offshore wind (and eventually, MHK) projects seems so simple and sensible in theory:
Multiple offshore renewables projects + one uniform transmission gathering line = reduced permitting costs and smoother integration of power into the grid.
Unfortunately, [...]

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