03.26.08

Commissioner Marc Spitzer - Biography

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:32 am by admin

Marc Spitzer was nominated by President George W. Bush to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term expiring June 30, 2011.

Commissioner Spitzer believes the FERC’s primary missions are to ensure that America’s ratepayers have safe, economic, and reliable supplies of electricity and natural gas; and transparent, robust and competitive wholesale energy markets. Commissioner Spitzer believes that successful regulation of FERC-jurisdictional industries requires a balancing of all competing interests to ensure just and reasonable rates.

Commissioner Spitzer was elected in 2000 to the Arizona Corporation Commission and in 2002 was elected Chairman by his colleagues. He received recognition for his leadership of the Arizona Commission from 2003-2005.

In 1992, after many associations with civic, philanthropic and political causes, he was elected to the Arizona State Senate for District 18. Commissioner Spitzer served in the Legislature as Chair of the Judiciary and Finance Committees and was elected by his peers to the position of Senate Majority Leader in 1996.

As an attorney since 1982, Commissioner Spitzer represented taxpayers in proceedings involving the Internal Revenue Service. He was first certified as a Specialist in tax law by the Arizona Bar in 1987.

Commissioner Spitzer was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Philadelphia.

After graduation from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he attended the University of Michigan, School of Law.

Recent FERC Initiatives and Their Impact on the Growth of Renewable Energy – Bibliography (Brownbag Discussion with Commissioner Marc Spitzer)

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:55 am by admin

For FERC materials on renewable energy generally, see http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/energy-innovations/renewable.asp

The Renewables Committee also suggests the following resources as relevant to issues to be addressed by Commissioner Marc Spitzer:

A. Transmission Access Issues:

1. Commission adopts Order No. 890, a Final Rule to Reform its Landmark 1996 Open Access Rules, Order Nos. 888 & 889, February 15, 2007

2. Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) reform (includes order, press release, and fact sheet): http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/oatt-reform.asp

3. OATT reform: Conditional-firm transmission and re-dispatch: http://www.nationalwind.org/events/webinar/default.htm

4. Statement by Commissioner Wellinghoff: http://www.ferc.gov/press-room/statements-speeches/wellinghoff/2007/02-15-07-wellinghoff-E-1.asp

5. DOE National Public Interest Electric Corridor Study: http://www.oe.energy.gov/epa_sec1221.htm

6. Transmission Corridor Study: http://www.nationalwind.org/events/transmission/midwest/2006/presentations/Meyer.pdf

7. FERC Technical Conference on Queuing Practices (December 11, 2007): http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?ID=3710&CalType=%20&Date=12/11/2007&CalendarID=116.

8. Recent FERC Orders Encouraging Transmission Grid Investment (March 2008): http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/trans-invest.asp

B. Renewable Energy:

1. FERC chart on State RPS requirements: http://www.ferc.gov/market-oversight/mkt-electric/overview/2007/elec-ovr-rps.pdf

2. “Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency”: http://www.dsireusa.org/

3. See Ryan Wiser, et. Al., Renewables Portfolio Standards: A Factual Introduction to Experience from the United States (2007): http://eetd.lbl.gov/ea/ems/reports/62569.pdf.

4. Note, Nathan E. Endrud, State Renewable Portfolio Standards: Their Continued Validity and Relevance in Light of the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Supremacy Clause, and Possible Federal Legislation. http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/jol/vol45_1/endrud.pdf

5. The following articles on renewable energy are due for publication in the next issue of the Energy Law Journal (Vol. 29, No. 1), available at http://www.eba-net.org/journal.php:

  • Joshua Fershee, Changing Resources, Changing Market: The Impact of a National Renewable Portfolio Standard on the U.S. Energy Industry
  • Robert Michaels, Rethinking renewable portfolio standards
  • Financing Renewable Project Panel from the 2007 EBA Mid-Year Meeting, Financing projects for generation of electricity from renewable

C. National Renewable Portfolio Standard:

1. Christopher Cooper & Benjamin K. Sovacool, Renewing America the Case for Federal Leadership on a National Renewable Portfolio Standard (2007): http://www.newenergychoices.org/dev/uploads/RPS%20Report_Cooper_Sovacool_FINAL_HILL.pdf.

2. Mary Ann Ralls, Congress Got it Right: There’s No Need to Mandate Renewable Portfolio Standards, 27 Energy Law Journal p. 451.

3. Alan Nogee, et al., The Projected Impacts of a National Renewable Portfolio Standard, ELEC. J., May 2007, at 33.

4. Tax policy for renewable energy: Mona L. Hymel, The United States’ Experience with Energy-Based Tax Incentives: The Evidence Supporting Tax Incentives for Renewable Energy, at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=896986.

5. FERC orders on wind interconnection: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/gi/wind.asp

6. Wind chapter from 2004 State of the Markets Report: http://www.ferc.gov/market-oversight/st-mkt-ovr/som-rpt-2004.pdf (pp. 233-36)

7. PTC for incremental hydro: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/gen-info/comp-admin/credit-cert.pdf

8. Tidal energy permitting: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/indus-act/tidal-energy-permits.asp

9. New Rules for qualifying facilities: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/gen-info/qual-fac.asp

10. Net metering: http://www.irecusa.org/connect/index.html

D. Location Constrained Resources:

1. FERC Declaratory Order on Location Constrained Resources (04/19/07): http://www.caiso.com/1bee/1bee7d3b3b4d0.doc

2. California ISO Tariff Filing for approval of Location Constrained Resource Policy (10/31/07): http://www.caiso.com/1c88/1c88dad154710.pdf

E. Energy Efficiency & Demand Response:

1. Commission site on demand response and advanced metering: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/demand-response.asp

2. FERC Staff Report to Congress under EPAct 2005, Demand Response & Advanced Metering, August 2006: http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/demand-response.pdf

3. FERC Staff Update to Congress, 2007 Assessment of Demand Response& Advanced Meterin, September 2007: http://www.ferc.gov/legal/staff-reports/09-07-demand-response.pdf

4. American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy: http://www.aceee.org/

5. Regulatory Assistance Project, “Energy Efficiency Policy Toolkit,” January 2007: http://www.raponline.org/Pubs/Efficiency%20Policy%20Toolkit%201%2004%2007.pdf

6. Commissioner Wellinghoff presentation on Demand Response: http://www.ferc.gov/EventCalendar/Files/20061010085200-WellinghoffDR061004Final.pdf

7. NARUC-FERC Demand Response Collaborative: http://demand-response.webexworkspace.com/login.asp?loc=&link=

8. Press release announcing collaborative and goals: http://www.ferc.gov/press-room/press-releases/2006/2006-4/11-02-06.asp

9. Collaborative documents: http://www.naruc.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=514
F. Hydroelectric Project Re-Licensing:

1. Integrated, Traditional, and Alternative Licensing Processes: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/gen-info/licensing/licen-pro.asp

2. Exemptions from Hydropower Licensing Requirements of Part I of the FPA: http://www.ferc.gov/industries/hydropower/gen-info/licensing/exemptions.asp

G. Climate Change Policy:

1. U.S. DOE Voluntary Emission Reduction Registration Program: http://www.pi.energy.gov/enhancingGHGregistry/index.html

2. U.S. EIA Report on 2006 Greenhouse Gas Emissions: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt/index.html

3. Congressional Committee on Energy and Commerce White Paper on Cap and Trade (October 2007)

4. The following article on potential federal carbon regulation is due for publication in the next Energy Law Journal (Vol. 29, No. 1), available at http://www.eba-net.org/journal.php:

5. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cap and Trade Panel, Carbon regulation and cap-and-trade programs.

6. Northwestern University Law Review: Colloquy: 2007: Robert L. Glicksman, Balancing Mandate and Discretion in the Institutional Design of Federal Climate Change Policy, available at http://www.law.northwestern.edu/lawreview/colloquy/2008/5/

7. John Dernbach, Moving the Climate Change Debate from Models to Proposed Legislation: Lessons from State Experience, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1103064

8. Jeffrey W. Moore, The Potential Law of On-Shore Geologic Sequestration of CO2 Captured from Coal-Fired Power Plants, 28 Energy Law Journal 443 (2007): http://www.eba-net.org/journal_vol28-22007.php?PHPSESSID=dde6dfdafd0e0ffd0364aa8c8bf4e0a6

9. See NATURAL RESOURCES & ENVIRONMENT, Vol. 22, No. 3: http://lawlib.wlu.edu/CLJC/index.aspx?mainid=666&issuedate=2008-02-21&homepage=no, as follows:

  • Federal Climate Change Legislation as If the States Matter,

Robert B. McKinstry, Jr., John C. Dernbach, and Thomas D. Peterson, p.3; link link2

  • China: Climate Change Superpower and the Clean Technology Revolution

Margret J. Kim and Robert E. Jones, p.9, link link2

  • California Climate Change Initiatives Leading the West and the Nation

Mary Ellen Hogan, p.14, link link2

  • Climate Change and the Environmental Impact Review Process

Michael B. Gerrard, p.20, link link2

  • Property Law and Climate Change

Gregory Sergienko, p.25, link link2

  • Climate Change and Freshwater Resources

Noah D. Hall, Bret B. Stuntz, and Robert H. Abrams, p.30, link link2

  • Global Climate Change and National Security

James Stuhltrager, p.36, link link2

  • Carbon Accounting: A Practical Guide for Lawyers

Peter L. Gray and Geraldine E. Edens, p.41, link link2

  • The Effects of Climate Change on American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes

Daniel Cordalis and Dean B. Suagee, p.45, link link2

  • Climate Change and the Courts: Litigating the Causes and Consequences of Global Warming

Kevin Haroff and Jacqueline Hartis, p.50, link link2

03.27.08

Much Overdue Postings

Posted in Uncategorized at 4:14 pm by member

Despite my best intentions, I have not been back to post in two+ months. In that time, a few folks have forwarded some items for posting, so here they are:

First, here is a link to Carolyn Elefant’s Offshore Renewable Energy Blog, which might be of interest. Congratulations to Carolyn on her new book, too!

Second, Mike Stosser, Sr. Vice President and General Counsel, Ardour Capital Investments, LLC, asked that I post this presentation: Financing Renewable/Alternative Energy Projects.

–Josh Fershee