It has been our view for a number of years that climate change disclosures are not for every publicly traded company. What is for each of those companies, however, is the need to take a close look at the risks and opportunities posed by climate change and to assess their importance for the company's specific circumstances. The Securities & Exchange Commission has now reached a similar conclusion. In a press release this past Wednesday, the SEC announced its decision (3-2 on partisan lines) to provide interpretive guidance on existing SEC disclosure requirements applicable to legal and bus...

It has only been a month since an organization called the Coalition for Responsible Regulation, Inc. filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s endangerment finding and, already, 16 states have lined up with the EPA, seeking to intervene in support of the challenged regulation.   The challenged regulation, entitled “Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act” (the “Final Rule”), was published in the Feder...

As the legislative season heats up again in Connecticut, with a session scheduled to commence in early February, some energy industry lawyers, policymakers and leading Legislators themselves have been talking over the last few weeks about what Connecticut should do to improve the deployment of renewables generally and solar in particular.  There seems to be more recognition that, for Connecticut to achieve its broad greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies and climate change mitigation goals, more needs to be done to promote investment in renewables in the state and, if green jobs can...

I had both eyes opened this past Friday. The Mayor of Belmar spoke at the Climate Change Impacts & Challenges for New Jersey Businesses & Coastal Communities conference sponsored by Monmouth University and the Urban Coast Institute. His topic: the responses to climate change he is overseeing in his New Jersey Shore community. Disaster planning is a big part of it. So are self-sufficiency and community response. We expect such attitudes in communities "that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters." It was somewhat disconcerting to see that perspective surfacing whe...

By Shawn Smith McCarter & English, Hartford Office The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) recently proposed an amendment to its net metering rule that will create an even greater economic incentive for utility customers to develop on-site renewable energy, especially solar energy systems.   The proposed amendment would eliminate the 2 megawatt (MW) limit on the size of renewable energy systems eligible for net metering, which would lift an obstacle for large-scale solar projects.  This gives customers the opportunity to develop larger renewable energy systems to gener...