Renewable Energy "Webinar" Hosted by DU College of Law: Legal Challenges and Opportunities Discussed by National Experts

The University of Denver Sturm College of Law recently hosted an American Bar Association Standing Committee on Environmental Law sponsored "webinar" entitled, "Renewable Energy: Legal Challenges and Solutions for the Green Economy." The event, which included a panel of presenters who were physically located in the law school building, was broadcast over the web to locations all around the United States.

What made the event particularly remarkable was the extremely high quality of panelists and moderators, all of whom were from the Denver metropolitan area. In that sense, the event highlighted the growing importance of Denver -- and Colorado more generally -- in the development of the green energy economy.

The "cross country" gathering was welcomed by Associate Dean Fred Cheever, a well known environmental law professor in his own right. Dean Cheever was followed by moderator Howard Kenison, the former chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law and a Denver-based partner in the firm of Lindquist Vennum LLP. Mr. Kenison, who is also a graduate of the DU College of Law and will serve as the law school "practitioner in residence" in the spring 2010 semester, introduced the impressive panel of speakers:

• Matt Futch, utilities program manager at the Governor's Energy Office for the State of Colorado
• John A. Herrick, senior counsel at Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck in Denver
• David Hurlburt, senior analyst, market and policy impact analysis groups at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado
• Frank Prager, vice president for environmental policy at Xcel Energy in Denver

Mr. Futch noted the currently in Colorado 55 percent of the total electricity load is regulated by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, while 45 is not. Thus, he suggested that there is "no real leverage from a regulatory perspective" for nearly one-half of the state's electricity. He also asserted that "putting a price on carbon" is one of the key elements in promoting the development of renewable energy. "A high tax or price per ton of $60 or higher on carbon is required to move past incremental gains in renewable generation," he said.

David Hurlburt said there is a growing trend among states to identify renewable nergy zones, places that combine high quality renewable energy sources and can be developed with single, as opposed to multiple transmission lines. However, he noted that the legal landscape is "Balkanized between states and the federal government." Moreover, there are different strategies at state and federal levels about how to implement renewables.

John Herrick, who has taught (and continues to teach) "Renewable Energy Project Finance," at DU for the last 10 years, offered the view that "public-private partnerships" with respect to renewable energy projects will become more important as the economic stimulus funds begin to wind down. Moreover, Mr. Herrick said that transmission is a "huge issue" since renewable energy generation is of limited value unless transmission lines are available to transport electricity from generating sites to load centers. Finally he suggested that there is a "civil war" currently going on in the environmental community. On one side are those whose objective is clean energy. On the other side are some who are using the National Environmental Policy Act to "slow down" projects. It is not clear at this point which perspective might prevail, he said.

Frank Prager began by noting that Xcel is "preparing for a carbon-constrained economy." He said that in 2008 Xcel's generation portfolio included 13 percent renewable sources (primarily wind) and that by 2020 that number would grow to 25 percent. Currently Xcel owns 120 megawatts of renewable generating capacity, with the remainder of their renewable generation being purchased through power purchase agreements. Among the key questions that Xcel is facing include:

• If there is a limited pool of "clean energy investment dollars," where should investments be made?
• Currently state and federal renewable policies are beginning to overlap; they should be made seamless.
• Future technology development related to renewable sources is a primary concern. "We have to have policies that encourage future investment," he said.

What was most striking to me -- beyond the actual issues discussed -- was the fact that the DU law school has on-going relations with nearly all of the speakers and their organizations, something that will only serve to benefit our program and future students. It is difficult to imagine being able to assemble such an impressive panel who live and do business in the same area anywhere else in North America.

The importance of challenges and opportunities associated with renewable energy are growing all over the nation, and especially in Colorado. Coupled with DU's range of externship opportunities, there is no better place to study about this increasingly important area than right here in the shadow of the front range of America's Rocky Mountains.

You can listen to the entire conference by clicking here.