Last revised
ENERGYLAW
LEB 380.31, PA 388K
MW 9:30-11:00, UTC 1.146
Professor: David Spence
Course Description
This course is intended to introduce
graduate students to the ways in which legal/regulatory systems affect the
energy industry, and to the important economic and political concerns that
underlie the regulation of production and sale of energy. The course will be comparative: that is,
while much of our focus will be on the American regulatory system, we will
consider legal regimes from other countries as well. We will study, among other things: (1) the
structure of the energy industry itself; (2) the evolution of Anglo-American
regulatory systems from traditional public utility rate regulation to the
partially deregulated system of today; (3) the role of state ownership and
privatization of energy services in the rest of the world; (4) regulation of production
and other aspects of the industry upstream of wholesale and retail sales; and
(5) the issue of “political/regulatory risk” as it affects
investment in the energy industry.
Electronic communication: The official syllabus for this course
will be on the web. When changes are made in the syllabus, I will notify you in
class or via email or both; however, it is your responsibility to consult the
syllabus periodically and keep up to date with changes. In addition, the
syllabus contains important cross-links to other web locations that you may
find helpful. Unless I indicate otherwise, these links are not required
readings. Nevertheless, I encourage you to visit them. I will communicate to
you via email using the email list on blackboard for this course. If you are not enrolled as a user at the
blackboard site, you will not receive group email communications.
Assignments:
·
Class
participation (including
in-class exercises) comprises 30% of your course grade. Perfect attendance in
class does not guarantee you an “A” in class participation; rather,
you can maximize your class participation grade by coming to class having done
the readings and prepared to discuss them, and by demonstrating creativity and
effort in your participation in in-class exercises. Except when required during in-class
exercises or by arrangement with the instructor, laptop use in class is
prohibited.
·
Each student
will be responsible for preparing a briefing consisting of a memo
and in-class presentation to
classmates on energy issues. (See the
syllabus for briefing topics). For each
briefing, students must prepare an individual
memo, and participate in an in-class team
presentation (with one or two other students). The memo should be no more than 6 pages in
length (single-spaced, exclusive of charts and graphs, 12-point
regular-width font), with citations to authority (footnotes or parenthetical
citations). The presentation should be
20-25 minutes in length, and will address the same topic as your memo. You will
receive an individual grade on your memo, and a team grade on your
presentation. The memo and presentation
will each comprise 20% of your course grade.
For more information about individual briefing topics, please see me.
·
A final take-home
problem will comprise the remaining 30% of your grade. The problem requires no additional research;
rather it asks you to apply concepts from class and the readings to a
hypothetical problem and produce a written response. It is essentially a take-home, single problem
final exam.
ASSIGNMENT
SCHEDULE
|
DATE |
TOPIC |
ASSIGNMENTS |
Additional Readings (not required) |
|
|
I. FOUNDATION MATERIAL
|
|
|
|
1/14 |
Historical Introduction and Introduction to Energy |
·
Brennan, Chp. 2
|
·
Conversion of
energy and the laws
of thermodynamics ·
EIA’s historical timeline of major developments
energy industry ·
History
of electricity use in North America |
|
1/16 |
Legal and Theoretical Basis for Regulation of
Energy Goods and Services |
|
·
A chronology of John D. Rockefeller’s
“South Improvement Co.” scheme
|
|
|
II. EXTERNALITIES
|
|
|
|
1/23 |
A. Water and the Rise of Hydropower |
|
|
|
|
B. Coal |
|
|
|
1/28 |
1. Coal Mining PRESENTATION: Coal mining safety and the future of coal
use in China. Patrick Chu, Piers Wendlandt - Powerpoint |
·
Kentuckians
for the Commonwealth v. Rivenburgh (4th Cir. 2002)(read
majority opinion parts I and
|
. History o
Coal
exploitation in North America o
Summary
of U.S. environmental laws applicable to mining o
Explanation of
surface mining methods |
|
1/30 |
2. Coal Combustion & air pollution - I PRESENTATION: Political, policy and legal forces
affecting the future of coal combustion in Germany. - Powerpoint Alex Wong, Bart Krishnamoorthy |
|
|
|
2/4 |
2. Coal Combustion & air pollution - II PRESENTATION: Can EPA regulate CO2 emissions
under the Clean Air Act? Must
it? - Powerpoint Nathaniel Hudson, Katy Cummins |
|
|
|
|
C. Oil and Gas |
|
|
|
2/6 |
1. Risk PRESENTATION: Western oil companies and investment in
Africa: what are the legal and political
risks they face, and how can they best manage those risks? Elisabeth Ojeh, PRESENTATION: The political and legal risks of investment
in oil exploration and development in Russia.
-- Powerpoint |
Risk: ·
Brief history of oil industry ·
|
Background: ·
Oil
exploitation in North America Political Risk: ·
EIA, Data on Caspian
Sea oil reserves ·
Oil.com ·
NYU Symposium on
Expropriation and Compensation Rights in International Law (video:
requires Real Player) ·
CSIS, Energy
publications ·
Shibley Telhami, Fiona Hill, et al., “Does Saudi Arabia Still Matter? Differing
Perspectives on the Kingdom and Its Oil,” Foreign
Affairs, November/December 2002 ·
World Press
Review web page on
the politics of Central Asian oil.
|
|
2/11 |
2. Transportation fuels PRESENTATION:
Existing and proposed Michael O’Donnell, Edward Stautberg, Bryan
Hansen - Powerpoint 3. Environment IN-CLASS DEBATE QUESTIONS: 1.
Should the offshore drilling moratoria currently imposed for sites off of the
2.
Should Congress lift the moratorium on oil exploration in ANWR? |
Transportation fuels Offshore drilling
ANWR o
Defenders of Wildlife ANWR page o
ANWR.org (Arctic Power) |
·
Sustainable Energy
Institute’s Committee
Against Offshore Drilling ·
National
Geographic magazine summary |
|
2/13 |
4. Natural Gas PRESENTATION: Security of gas supplies in David Wogan, Enes Hosgor, Jason Cullen - Powerpoint PRESENTATION:
How can |
·
Basics of natural
gas, from exploration to market ·
Summary of
the environmental impacts of the natural gas industry from Naturalgas.org. |
|
|
2/18 |
Natural Gas cont’d Liberalization of Natural Gas Markets PRESENTATION:
How has restructuring of the gas industry proceeded in Nikhil Mane -- Powerpoint |
|
·
Polo and Scarpa, “Liberalization
and Market Segmentation in the Natural Gas Industry,” Working
paper, December, 2002. ·
U.S.
EIA natural gas restructuring web site |
|
2/20 |
PRESENTATION: The future of nuclear energy in Reinhardt,
Mohta, Roy -- Powerpoint |
|
International
Atomic Energy Agency Maps of nuclear plants in North America,
South America,
Europe, and Asia |
|
2/25-27 |
Exercise in class – RPS worksheet Debate: role of renewables in future energy
mix |
Browse links at
right |
Wind
Solar
Biomass
Geothermal
Tidal/Wave
|
|
3/3-14 |
Break for Global
Connections and Spring Break |
|
|