Energy Track

Learn about energy law from the basics to cutting edge issues with experts from across the nation!

Classes will be held from 6:00pm-9:00pm at Pace University's Fred French Building in midtown Manhattan unless otherwise noted.

• Basics of Energy Law & Regulatory Structure (Gabriel Eckstein; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

May 28th-31st

*5:30pm-9:00pm

This 4-day seminar provides a basic introduction to energy law and regulation in the United States. It focuses on the key sources of energy (both nonrenewable and renewable) driving the U.S. economy, and identifies the various challenges in their production and distribution. It also considers the key regulations and laws governing energy production as well as the jurisdictional and regulatory divisions between federal and state governments. The seminar will also address related legal, policy, and societal concerns including environmental, land use, regulatory, and economics as they relate to each energy source. To the extent time permits, we also will consider related climate change concerns and regulation.

• Basics of Oil, Gas Law (Gabriel Eckstein; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

June 3rd-7th

This 5-day seminar provides a basic introduction to oil and gas law in the United States. It explores legal structure for owning, allocating, and managing rights and interests in oil and gas resources. It also considers the rights and obligations of landowners and operators, provisions in oil and gas leases, and regulations dealing with exploration, production, and conservation of oil and gas deposits. The seminar also will consider environmental issues arising in the context of oil and gas production with a focus on hydraulic fracturing.

• Law of Coal (Pat McGinley; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

June 10th-14th *from 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Not available in online format

This course covers a number of environmental law statutes in relation to coal mining.  It addresses the pros and cons of coal production and use, mining law origins, mining on federal lands, severance of surface and mineral ownership, permitting and regulation of coal mining, environmental and personal injury hazards and claims, and coal mining agreements and contracts.

• Nuclear Energy & Waste Disposal Law (Deborah Brancato; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

June 17th-21st

Nuclear Energy and Waste Disposal Law provides an introduction to the basic concepts and mechanisms of the law governing the operation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste storage and disposal in the United States.  The course covers the history and evolution of the statutes, regulations, cases, policies, and procedures that control the “normal” as well as “abnormal” operation of the 104 existing U.S. nuclear reactors, including an examination of how the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the recent Fukushima nuclear disaster have altered the regulatory landscape.  The course considers the future of U.S. nuclear power plants in a prospective “Nuclear Renaissance,” as well as the laws governing the ultimate decommissioning of America’s nuclear fleet.  The course further probes, from a legal perspective, the question that has been plaguing the United States for decades and remains as-yet unanswered: what are we as a country ultimately going to do with all the radioactive waste?  The course considers nuclear energy public policy perspectives as well as the relevance and interrelationship of other environmental statutes to the laws that control the operation of nuclear power plants and nuclear waste disposal, in order to provide overarching insights into the controlling legal framework.

• Solar & Wind Energy Law & Policy (Sanford Gaines; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

June 24th-28th

Wind and solar energy are the major sources of renewable electricity (other than hydropower) in use around the world. This course will focus on three legal and policy factors that arise with these technologies, using case studies and legal materials from the U.S. and Europe.  First, what steps have governments taken or considered using to promote the development of these energy supplies?  Second, what issues arise in locating wind and solar facilities, and what legal strategies have governments used to overcome local resistance and to address environmental concerns? For wind, both onshore and offshore siting will be considered. For solar, deployment of photovoltaic panels and construction of concentrated solar power plants will be discussed. Finally, what legal and regulatory strategies are used or under consideration with respect to the distribution and use of wind and solar electricity?

• Law of Ocean & Hydro Energy (Rachael Salcido; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

July 1st-5th (not meeting on July 4th)

*5:30pm-9:00pm

This course will examine the issues related to creating electricity from water.  First, the course will focus on federal regulation pertaining to traditional hydropower and dams, then on more recent development of offshore wave energy.  Development and the public interest, balancing environmental impacts with development and inter-agency disputes will be explored.

• Smart Grid, Distributed Generation & Demand Response (Joel Eisen; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

July 8th-12th

This course explores the challenges and opportunities that come with new policies seeking to promote distributed (decentralized) sources of energy and “demand response” (“DR”), strategies by which end-use customers reduce consumption of electricity. We will also look at the “Smart Grid,” the revolutionary transformation of consumers’ relationship with the electric grid in which customers with “smart” electric meters can have increased control over their electricity usage. The course takes an intensive look at legal developments and the effectiveness of various policy instruments in state, regional, national, and international forums where this evolving body of law is being made. We will cover mandates and goals for distributed renewable energy (including renewable portfolio standards and feed-in tariffs); federal, state, and local demand response laws, including their relationship to the Smart Grid; state and federal tax and other incentives for demand response and renewables; ratemaking, wholesale markets and other aspects of the sale of electricity; and financing mechanisms for transactions involving efficiency and renewables.

• Energy Law Practice (Franz Litz; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

July 15th-19th

This one-week, 1-credit course will introduce participants to energy regulatory law. Course participants will learn how electricity is regulated with a special focus on the opportunities for lawyers representing clients who wish to develop renewable or other distributed energy projects, drive energy efficiency, or otherwise influence the production or delivery of electricity in a particular state.

Understanding the past and current structure of utility regulation is essential to the practice of energy law.  This course begins with a review of how the present electricity system and energy regulatory structures came into existence. Next, the course will focus on electricity supply. How is new electricity generation sited and by whom? How is new capacity financed? How do electricity markets work?  Third, the course will turn to the delivery of electricity.  How does electricity get from generators to consumers and by whom? How are electricity supply and delivery rates determined? How does distributed generation like rooftop solar or small wind or high-efficiency cogeneration fit into this regulatory context? What financing mechanisms are available for these “non-traditional” projects? Where does end-use energy efficiency fit in? Can we fit the future into a regulatory structure designed for the past?

• Renewable Energy Field Course (Franz Litz; 1 credit)

No longer open for registration

July 22nd-26th

This one-week, 1-credit course will allow participants to tour actual renewable energy projects and speak to project developers and other experts on how to get projects done. Course participants will first spend some time in the classroom getting their legal and policy bearings for developing projects.  Participants will then “hit the road” as a group to explore real-world project sites while learning more about the law and policy that applies to the projects.