Sustainable Energy & Infrastructure

Congress is officially back in session, and several important energy-related issues loom on the horizon, including TSCA reform and a tax extenders package that could potentially impact renewable energy tax credits. 

With Congress out of session over the past few weeks, President Obama continued to make climate change and clean energy a key part of his agenda. In addition to visits to New Orleans and Alaska focused on climate change, the president also announced a number of key initiatives designed to incentivize and reward innovators in the clean technology sector.   

On August 24, President Obama directed the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to allow homeowners to purchase and refinance properties with Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loans when those loans are subordinated to an FHA-insured mortgage. 

The Obama Administration’s release of the final Clean Power Plan kicked off a busy second half of the year for climate and energy policy issues.

In late July, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a ruling to help ISO-New England more effectively manage congestion on its grid due to growing renewable energy generation.

In August, the U.S. Department of Energy released its 2014 Wind Technologies Market Report. The report, released annually for the past three years, tracks American progress in wind related areas including installed capacity, prices, jobs, and technological trends, among several others.

After an action packed few weeks for energy and environmental policy in Washington, Congress is in recess until after Labor Day. Meanwhile, the Obama Administration is currently managing reactions to the Clean Power Plan – both positive and negative.

Great clean energy ideas need venture capital to build, scale, and make revenue – but who knows how it really works? Last week, our own VC attorney Jeremy Glaser sat down with Oren Klaff, author of Pitch Anything, on his Done Deal web video series.

This week in Washington was filled with long awaited energy and climate developments. The Obama Administration revealed the final Clean Power Plan after a lengthy rulemaking and comment process.

Last Wednesday UPS agreed to purchase up to 46 million gallons of renewable diesel over the course of the next three years from the energy companies Neste, Renewable Energy Group, and Solazyme. 

President Obama unveiled the final Clean Power Plan (CPP) this past weekend – the first ever national standard to address CO2 pollution from power plants. The CPP sets strong standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 while maintaining energy reliability and affordability.  For the plan highlights and analysis, read on!

As Congress closes in on the August recess, bipartisan energy bills have emerged from both the House and Senate. While these and tax extenders are on Capitol Hill's energy related agenda, the Obama Administration prepares to publish the much anticipated final Clean Power Plan. For more, click here for the latest update from ML Strategies.

On July 8, the U.S. Energy Department, during the Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative’s Southeast Regional Summit, announced the national laboratories who will take the lead in implementing a new Small Businesses Vouchers Pilot.

Congress is hard at work leading up to the August recess, with major focuses that include No Child Left Behind reform, tax extenders, and broad energy packages.

As Congress resumes after the Independence Day recess, the House debates several energy related funding measures, while the Senate awaits the broad Murkowski - Cantwell energy package.

U.K. Trade & Investment and the British Consulates General’s 3rd annual GREAT Tech Awards kicked off in June with the opening of this year’s application and - for the first time ever - New England start-ups will have an opportunity to participate.

On June 26, Mintz Levin and E2: Environmental Entrepreneurs celebrated E2’s 15th Anniversary with a program titled “Revitalizing America's Middle Class in a Clean Energy Economy.”

In the final full week before the July 4 recess, energy policy is taking center stage in both the legislative and executive branches. The Senate continues to piece together a broad bipartisan energy package, while the House takes on the EPA's funding, the Clean Power Plan, and listens to officials on advanced battery storage.

Yesterday, the White House hosted a Clean Energy Investment Summit where Vice President Biden highlighted more than $4 billion in pledges from major foundations and long -term investors to fund climate change solutions.

In the Winter 2015 issue of the ABA’s Natural Resources & Environment magazine, John Barkett retraced the Supreme Court’s treatment of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) from Key Tronic to Waldburger and, looking back over that history, he makes the unassailable observation that the Court’s decisions have been, and will continue to be, guided by the plain meaning of CERCLA’s text.