Our neighboring county just revised their zoning ordinance forbidding auxiliary structures higher than 15 feet. The revision permits structures up to 150 feet. The need: windmills. What if we got one? What about insurance? My first step was to consider the risks and losses I would need to protect against: property loss (it falls down), liability (it falls down on somebody) and business interruption. (I can no longer export power). As it turns out, only the third is of any real interest, but in so being it impacts the other two. If you pull out your homeowners' policy, it will likely cover Othe...

Two important climate change law developments collided this month in unexpected ways that impact whether the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can and will regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act and, legal observers say, the resulting unintended consequence compels the conclusion that the Congress needs to act now to adopt a legislative fix. First, in a Federal Register notice published on July 30, 2008 (but released informally on July 11, 2008), the EPA issued its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) that responds to the U.S. Supreme Court’s...

By Grace Kurdian, McCarter & English, New York City How far we've moved from the days when an auction simply conjured images of art trades at venerable art houses. Yesterday, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative ("RGGI") released the bid preparation process (notice, qualification documents and background information concerning the auction process) for the first regional, mandatory, market-based carbon emissions auction to be held in the nation. The first RGGI auction of carbon dioxide allowances will be held on September 25, 2008. A second auction is planned for December of 2008. The au...

Our neighboring county just revised their zoning ordinance forbidding auxiliary structures higher than 15 feet. The revision permits structures up to 150 feet. The need: windmills. What if we got one? What about insurance? My first step was to consider the risks and losses I would need to protect against: property loss (it falls down), liability (it falls down on somebody) and business interruption. (I can no longer export power). As it turns out, only the third is of any real interest, but in so being it impacts the other two. If you pull out your homeowners' policy, it will likely cover ...

An article in the New York Times on July 1, 2008, by Jad Mouawad, titled Weather Risks Cloud Promise of Biofuel, points out that renewable energy sources could be especially susceptible to weather conditions because they often depend on fragile crops, which while renewable, also can be wiped out in one swift stroke.  Those crops can be regrown, of course, but that takes time.  Further, these energy sources are usually found above ground, in places exposed to weather.  Although the article focuses on the effect of the recent flooding in the Midwest of the United States and along ...

A Georgia Court Monday reversed that state’s issuance of an air permit to the developer of a 1,200 MW coal fired power plant, citing the permit’s failure to require carbon dioxide emission limitations under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”). An administrative law judge’s decision to issue the permit was reversed and remanded for further proceedings. At issue in the case is a proposal for a conventional coal burning steam electric power plant that would be a major air pollution source, emitting 8-9 million tons of carbon dioxide per year, along with sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particular matter, s...