Students Review Third Annual Renewable Energy Law and Policy Summit

Last month, the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program held its annual Renewable Energy Law and Policy Summit. The all day event featured over a dozen speakers and focused on renewable energy law and policy, opportunities and challenges.

Students in Professor K. K. DuVivier's Energy Law class were sponsored to attend the event and wrote summaries of each session. The students have agreed to share their reviews of the sessions on our blog. If you are interested in a particular session, feel free to click the links below and read more about the topics!

Third Annual Renewable Energy Law and Policy Summit Reviews

U.S. Renewable Energy Policy During the President's Second Term: What Have We Accomplished and Where are We Going?
~Steve Black

• An Excellent View into President Obama's Renewable Energy Policy 
• Review by Heidi Ruckriegle, Christopher Stork, and Kyle Sparwath

Renewable Energy in China and China-U.S. Cooperation/ Competition
~Jeff Logan, Adam Reed, Clay Stranger,
Moderated by Mark Safty

• Renewable Energy in China & the China-U.S. Cooperation/Competition 
• Review by Ghislaine Bruner and Ryan Brand

The 21st Century Electricity Grid- National Policy and Western Perspectives
~Linda Davis, Jennifer Gardner, Robert Henke,
Moderated by Alex Daue

• Transmission isn’t sexy; but it sure is important! 
• Review by Banafsheh Lari and Evan Spencer

 Renewables and the Utility Sector: My Perspective
~Marc Manly

• Renewables and the Utility Sector Review 1 
• Review by Ashley Jackson Novander
• Renewables and the Utility Sector Review 2 
• Review by Binns

After the Gold Rush: What's Next for Federal Renewable Energy? 
~Marcilynn Burke, Albert Ferlo, Heidi VanGenderen,
Moderated by Rebecca Watson

• After the Gold Rush Review 
• Review by Tammy Kelley and Morgan Robinson

Renewable Portfolio Standards: Mixing it Up on the Energy Front
~John Eick, Todd Foley, Cathy Proctor,
Moderated by K. K. DuVivier

• Renewable Energy Is NOT a Luxury Good 
• Review by Jackie Cook and Laurie Strong

BLM Auctions First Solar Rights on Public Lands

The San Luis Valley in Colorado.
Photo Courtesy of Pam

For the first time, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is auctioning rights to develop solar power on public lands. Preliminary applications had suggested that five companies were interested in obtaining permits in the San Luis Valley and there were another 27 inquiries interested in more information about the parcels. Based on that data, the BLM scheduled an auction for 3,700 acres of land in the valley.

However, no one showed up to the first auction last week. BLM officials see this as the continued impact of uncertainties within the federal regulatory system as well as within the solar market. They are still confident in the viability of solar development on BLM lands.

The BLM created 19 solar zones in six western states that are targeted for fast-track development. The decision to designate the areas for fast-track development was based on the geographical context. In these areas, access to transmission currently exists and they are not in environmentally sensitive areas.

BLM officials will move forward with the parcel auctions. It is hoped that once the uncertainties of government regulation and market factors are more predictable, interest and demand for solar development in these areas will increase.

For more information, visit the BLM website.

Cindy Jennings, ENRGP Alum to Teach Corporate Responsibility Course

Cindy Jennings, President of Volition Strategies, a sustainability strategy consulting firm, will be teaching a course for ENRGP in the 2014 spring semester. In her work, Cindy has assisted with numerous food and beverage ingredient companies to develop leaner, more responsible supply chains and operations. In addition, Cindy is well-connected to the local sustainability and corporate responsibility community. She serves on the boards and committees of Colorado Cleantech Industry Association Policy Committee, Cleantech Open Sustainability Chair, Women in Sustainable Energy Board among other nonprofit and trade associations in which she participates.

Cindy graduated from ENRGP with her Master of Resources Law Studies degree. We are more than happy to welcome her back to the program as an Adjunct Professor for the spring 2014 semester! Cindy will teach Strategic Corporate Responsibility Reporting. The course will cover the structure of one of the leading reporting frameworks, the Global Reporting Initiative, but more importantly, the thought processes and procedures involved in creating a material, relevant report that is meaningful to internal and external stakeholders of an organization.

The class provides an exciting opportunity to gain real experience by partnering with a local energy company interested in determining their sustainability strategy and performance indicators. Students will be able to participate in a 'live lab' during class. Company representatives will be available both in class and between the weekend classes to provide a rich learning experience. The objective is to prepare students to be able to lead the process themselves within their own organization or for client organizations.

The course will also consist of legal discussion blended with business discussion as the class looks at the impacts of the Clean Water, Clean Air, Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd Frank Acts (among others) on today's organizations. Students will identify the risks, opportunities and complexities that these laws create for industry as well as within the live lab company.

Cindy shared the following about her course: "A corporate responsibility (CR) report, if done well, is the end result of strategic thinking and commitment to improving an organization's operations, community and industry position, and management transparency."

Please consider adding Cindy's Strategic Corporate Responsibility Reporting course to your spring schedule!

Don Smith, Editor of the Journal of Energy & Natural Resources Law, Presents Annual Editorial Report to International Bar Association

Don Smith, Director of Denver Law's Environmental and Natural Resources Law Program, met recently with the officers of the International Bar Association's Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL).

Mr. Smith, who is editor of SEERIL's flagship peer-reviewed publication the Journal of Energy &Natural Resources Law (JERL), presented his Annual Editorial Report to the SEERIL officers. The meeting took place at  the IBA's Annual Meeting in Boston.

Among his comments to the officers were:

• During 2012, JERL was published in March, June, August, and December
• Twenty articles and five book reviews were published
• Authors from every corner of the world were published
• A special section was commissioned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of JERL, which was launched in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s

JERL continues to be one of the most prestigious publications of its kind with 2,500 subscribers from around the world. Its international perspective allows authors and readers to better understand the key issues related to energy and natural resources and the intersection of these two topics.

For more information about the journal please click here.

Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation to Hold Special Institute on Renewable Energy November 7-8 in Las Vegas

The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (RMMLF) will sponsor a Special Institute on "Renewable Electric Energy: Law, Development, and Investment," in Las Vegas on November 7-8, 2013

The Special Institute will examine state and federal policies and regulations driving development of renewable power projects, and discuss project management as a coordinated whole. Among those associated with Denver Law who are involved with the Special Institute include Professor K.K. DuVivier, Adjunct Professor Bob Noun, Adjunct Professor Mark Safty, and former Practitioner in Residence Rebecca Watson.

Don Smith, Director of the Environmental & Natural Resources Law program at Denver Law said, "There is no finer organization when it comes to issues related to natural resources than the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation.  Their conferences are second to none.  Denver Law is delighted to co-sponsor this important conference."

More information about the Special Institute can be found by clicking here.

Denver Law is a constituent organization of the RMMLF.

"Oil & Gas Development Key to U.S. Future," Write Rebecca Watson and Don Smith in Christian Science Monitor Opinion Piece

Oil and gas development using fracking and horizontal drilling will support U.S. energy security and benefit the national economy, according to an opinion piece co-authored by Rebecca Watson, former Assistant Secretary of the Interior and Denver Law graduate, and Don Smith, director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law program.

 "Fracking, or more broadly, oil and gas development, is an industrial activity and can cause negative environmental effects," Ms. Watson and Mr. Smith wrote in the piece published October 23,2013, in The Christian Science Monitor.  "But many modern industrial and everyday activities have environmental or human health risks.  The reasonable response is sensible regulation, at both the federal and state level, rather than wholesale bans."

Ms.Watson, a Denver energy and land-access lawyer, is a shareholder with Welborn Sullivan Meck &Tooley, P.C. in Denver.

The Christian Science Monitor is considered one of the nation's leading publications and is read by opinion makers across the U.S. and the world.  Click here to read the entire opinion piece.

'07 MRLS Alum Discusses Wind Energy in Boulder

Danny Splettstosser graduated from DU’s MRLS program in the winter of 2007. After working for 3 years as one of Electricite De France – Renewable Energy’s first utility scale solar project developers, he returned home to Colorado. Danny is currently the Manager of Business Development for juwi Wind based out of Boulder Colorado. Danny runs a small team of business developers which specialize in utility scale wind project mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, and renewable energy power sales.

Over the past two years, Danny has focused on diversification of juwi’s wind energy portfolio away from the uncertainties of U.S. renewable energy tax credits. In particular, Danny has been instrumental in beach-heading new markets the Canadian Maritimes provinces. Creation of this new market opportunity has included: working with Canadian corporate and tax counsel to create a viable and financeable corporate structure; leading acquisitions of more than a half dozen community wind projects; comprehensive coordination of project development activities with internal and external contract project developers; securing provincial and municipal permits; coordinating interconnection studies and interconnection agreements; leading the negotiation of four joint ventures with community wind project co-owners, three of which are with First Nations, and subsequently managing those joint ventures; leading a consortium of market participants in PPA negotiations with Nova Scotia Power under their Community Feed-In-Tariff including assisting in writing filings for Nova Scotia’s Utility Review Board; preparation of a portfolio of more than $65 million of wind energy projects for finance and construction in 2014; leading efforts for further diversification within the Canadian wind energy market.

Key elements of his course work at DU which have directly applied to his work experience are: Land Use Development Law, Environmental Law (particularly related to NEPA processes), Corporate Social Responsibility and  Renewable Energy Finance.

Danny shares, “The work is extremely challenging, but every day before I go to work, I get to tell my son that ‘Daddy is off to save the world’  and that’s a pretty good feeling.”