GEI has been in the news this March.

GEI and Sierra Club join together to file two separate amicus briefs arguing that processes overseen by the Public Utility Commission end in final orders that are subject to appeal.

Read about GEI’s work on HB 2021, wildfire liability, and post-California Restaurant Ass’n v. Berkeley pathways.

Read a helpful explanation of the Public Utility Commission’s order concluding Oregon’s electricity decarbonization law does not require the retirement of renewable energy certificates.

Watch the recording here.

Director and Staff Attorney Carra Sahler offered her thoughts about the effect on building decarb efforts after the Ninth Circuit’s decision invalidating Berkeley’s natural gas ban in buildings. Read the interview here.

Lewis & Clark’s Green Energy Institute has been awarded the Bob Olsen Memorial Conservation Eagle Award by the NW Energy Coalition.

Read GEI’s Newsletter summarizing some of its work this year.

GEI celebrated its Tenth Anniversary on Friday, September 15 by co-hosting  Northwest Energy Opportunities: Transportation Electrification, Markets, and Career Paths for New Lawyers.

Watch GEI’s staff attorney, Caroline Cilek, discuss the role RECs play with implementation of Oregon’s 100% Clean Energy for All legislation (HB 2021).

GEI’s Interim Director and Staff Attorney, Carra Sahler, served as a resource on two climate-related Oregonian stories.

Northwest Energy Opportunities: Transportation Electrification, Markets, and Career Paths for New Lawyers on September 15, 2023.

To watch the one hour webinar, click here.

The Green Energy Institute (GEI) and Earthjustice celebrate victory while representing climate, environmental justice, and community-led social justice organizations in proceeding by Oregon regulators reviewing NW Natural’s request to raise gas bills.

GEI Staff Attorney Carra Sahler partnered with Earthjustice attorneys to represent a coalition of environmental and community-based organizations who intervened to challenge NW Natural’s proposed general rate revision.

Professor Melissa Powers is recognized by peers as preeminent in the field of environmental law.

Legal experts and scholars discuss the impact–good and bad–of the CWA over five decades.

Thanks to the new Energy Policy Simulator (EPS) released by Energy Innovation, Oregon now has an incredibly useful modeling tool for policymakers to compare the outcomes and impacts from a wide variety of climate and energy policies. Try the tool here!

To watch the one hour and fifteen minute presentation, click here.

GEI Staff Attorney Amy Schlusser is one of 34 individuals advising the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality as it develops regulations to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable energy projects provided Oregon counties more than $120 million in direct tax revenue over the past four years and nearly $32 million in tax year 2017-2018 alone, according to our latest study, Renewable Energy & Direct Public Revenues in Oregon. Rural counties in Oregon were by far the greatest beneficiaries of this revenue: in the 2017-2018 tax year, Sherman County received more than $12.5 million, Gilliam County received more than $8.5 million, and Umatilla, Morrow, and Malheur Counties each received around $2.5 million in direct tax payments from renewable energy projects. Read the full report for more information.

Professor Benjamin is the newest member of the acclaimed Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Program and is a globally recognized expert and scholar in energy, climate change, and corporate law—particularly as they intersect.

Thank You to LC Giving Day Contributors; Deconstructing Diesel Happy Hour a Success; Welcome to Our New Deputy Director; Updates from the March Meeting of the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission; and Reforming Oregon’s Electricity Regulatory Framework Blog Post on Recent Oregon Public Utility Commission Meeting

The Chronicle Magazine Features GEI in Headline Story: Renewable Hope; GEI Participates in U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar in Your Community Challenge; Deconstructing Diesel Happy Hour on March 21, 5:00-7:30 PM; and  Charged Debate Blog Sheds Light on Renewables Regulation in the Trump Administration

On January 28, the Green Energy Institute published a report, “Solar Building Standards: How American Cities Can Lay Foundations for a New Generation of Solar Development,” by staff attorney Nick Lawton. The report explains how solar building standards, which are local ordinances requiring solar power as a standard feature on new or renovated buildings, could offer significant benefits to many energy market stakeholders. Instead of relying on subsidies to entice investment from relatively affluent property owners, solar building standards would result in widespread solar development that keeps pace with construction and growing energy demand. At the same time, these new policies could lower costs of solar power, facilitate its integration into the energy grid, save property owners money, promote resilience to power outages, and allow utilities to develop business models that benefit from distributed solar arrays. The report describes the nation’s first two solar building standards, which were enacted in two California cities in 2013, and then offers design options that local governments should consider when adopting these policies. The report also explores possible arguments against solar building standards, which have dwindling merit as the economics of solar power continue to improve. The report concludes that as solar power’s costs of continue to decline and its benefits become increasingly clear, more local governments should give solar building standards strong consideration. 

For more information on this report, please contact Nick Lawton at nicklawton@lclark.edu.