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New and Notable Additions

LPDD July Newsletter

New LPDD Model Laws

This month, the LPDD team is proud to publish a new model federal law commissioning a study of the clean energy workforce. This model law would create a commission to oversee a comprehensive study of the workforce needs of the United States economy as it rapidly decarbonizes. The model offers policymakers two alternative decarbonization scenarios to use as the technical base of the study: net zero emissions by 2050, or current policy (characterized as "actual and reasonably foreseeable" policy, to explicitly account for ongoing rulemakings). In either case, the country will have to educate and train a large technical workforce to meet the challenges of decarbonization. The law aims to lay the analytical foundation for scaling up that workforce by modeling the labor market demands of decarbonization, assessing obstacles to the United States’ workforce meeting that labor demand, and recommending new resources in the realm of education and job training to better prepare the workforce for the transition ahead, including recommendations at the federal, state, and local levels. The study would include a focus on minority, historically underserved, and economically disadvantaged populations, as well as the resulting displacement of the workforce in fossil-fuel related and other high-emissions technology industries.

This new model legislation is the federal companion to last month's model state law addressing the clean energy workforce.

New External Resources

modelclimatelaws.org is being continually updated with new, external legal resources. Below is a selection of recently added resources.

  • New ELI/NRDC Model Laws on Waste Reduction: The Environmental Law Institute and NRDC have published three model legal documents aimed at helping small and mid-sized cities address waste reduction. First among these, a new model compost procurement policy requires a municipality to use compost products where appropriate, provided it is not cost-prohibitive. Second, a model ordinance on mandatory reporting for large food waste generators requires businesses, universities, and other large organizations to report the amounts of food waste and surplus food they generate. Finally, a model executive order on municipal leadership on food waste reduction positions municipalities to lead by example through (1) reducing the amount of food wasted in municipal operations; (2) highlighting the importance of reducing food waste to businesses, residents, and other community members; and (3) demonstrating food waste reduction measures that businesses and other entities may voluntarily replicate. Each model typically features an off-the-shelf version; a version with commentaries that provide additional information, including resources and alternative approaches; a background memo; and a slide presentation. The LPDD team has reviewed these models and commends them highly.
  • Illinois' Right to Charge Law: Following the lead of other states as well as LPDD's EV-Ready Building Codes, Illinois' recently signed SB40 requires new or renovated homes and multi-unit residential buildings to have conduits to charge electric vehicles.
  • New Laws Banning Ratepayer Funds for Political Activities: Following last month's new law in Colorado, two more states have joined the movement banning utilities from spending ratepayer funds on political activities. Connecticut's SB7 prohibits utilities from using money from customers' bills to pay for political activities, including lobbying and trade association dues. Utilities are required to file annual disclosures to the Public Utility Regulatory Authority including itemized lists of expenditures that they made on political influence activities. The law also advances the state’s efforts toward performance-based ratemaking. In Maine, LD 325 also bars investor-owned utilities from charging customers for costs related to political activities.
  • Ohio Approves New Nuclear Development Authority: In June, Ohio lawmakers included a provision on a new state authority promoting advanced nuclear technology in the state’s two-year budget bill. The amendment establishes a nine-member, governor-appointed board to oversee a new Ohio nuclear development authority aimed at boosting research and development of advanced nuclear reactors, commercial isotope production, and nuclear waste reduction and storage technology.
  • Critical Minerals Policy for the United States: In June, the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment Program released a comprehensive report on securing a resilient critical mineral supply chain for the United States, which is essential for clean energy technologies. The report highlights key findings from a task force of experts convened over the last year and a half, and presents a strategic roadmap and several recommendations for the U.S. Congress. Key recommendations to the Congress include: permitting reform for critical mineral mining operations; endorsing free, prior, and informed consent for indigenous communities, which may actually expedite permitting processes by frontloading concerns; facilitating tribal equity stakes in mining projects where appropriate; leveraging the National Defense Stockpile for critical minerals reserves; grant funding for accredited mining operations, with earmarks for recruitment; favoring international agreements over Buy American provisions; and developing clear standards for mining operations to qualify for support.

Spotlight on Equity: Passed in June, Connecticut's Cumulative Impacts in Permitting Legislation, SB 47, gives the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the state’s Siting Council the ability to deny a permit for new facilities based on the “cumulative impact” of environmental and public health stressors that already exist in environmental justice communities.

Project Profiles

Every other month, we like to highlight attorneys working on this project, to recognize their service, and call attention to the quality of expertise and scholarship behind LPDD.

This month, we're highlighting Craig Gannett, a partner in the Seattle office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, and a drafter on two of LPDD's highest profile laws in the electricity space. Serving on the LPDD project since 2019, Craig led a team of DWT lawyers in drafting our model legislation to decarbonize the electric utility industry, based on Washington State’s groundbreaking legislation on the same topic, and later served on a team drafting model community solar legislation. He has also served on LPDD’s peer review team.

Craig's career-long focus on energy and environmental issues gives him an extraordinary substantive expertise, for which he has been nationally recognized. Beginning his career in energy as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, Craig served under Senator Henry M. Jackson (D-WA), who led the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act and other key energy and natural resource legislation. With that background, he has gone on to advise on the regulatory aspects of renewable energy and climate change, with noted expertise in the Federal Power Act, the Clean Water Act and the National Environmental Policy Act, as well as EPA climate change regulations under the Clean Air Act. More recently, he advises clients on the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as the comprehensive climate regulatory structure that has been enacted in Washington State since 2019. He has co-chaired DWT's Energy Practice Group, and is a frequent speaker at energy and climate change conferences, including a new climate conference he launched earlier this year, “Decarbonizing the West Coast.”

Outside of DWT, Craig has been teaching Climate Change Law at theUniversity of Washington Law School since 2010, making him one of the first instructors in the United States to teach Climate Change Law at a major law school. He is also the President of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, which focuses on climate change, human rights, and leadership development. Over 80 early-to-mid-level professionals have completed the Foundation’s Jackson Leadership Fellows Program, and many of them are working on climate change.

Craig's professional commendations are numerous and well-deserved. He was named one of "America's Leading Lawyers for Business" by Chambers USA in Energy & Natural Resources (Washington), 2021-2023. He has been recognized by the National Law Journal as a Trailblazer in energy and environmental law. For many years, he has also been recognized as one of Best Lawyers in America in both the Energy and Environmental fields.

Craig's expertise is invaluable to his many clients in the renewable energy and climate space, as well as to our project. We're grateful for the expertise he's lent to our work, and look forward to further collaborating with him in the future.

In the News

Sometimes, we come across news stories that highlight the value of the resources we already promote at modelclimatelaws.org. Here are a few from the last month:

Get Involved!

Not sure how to support our work? Check out our Get Involved page to see the many avenues by which lawyers can join us, and get in contact!

This update highlights and summarizes recent additions to the Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization (LPDD) website, which houses actual and model laws addressing the causes of climate change in the United States.

The Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization Model Law Project (LPDD-MLP) is a pro bono effort to draft model laws for use by legislators at the federal, state and local levels to support their efforts to achieve deep reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The project is based on recommendations from the groundbreaking book Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (Michael Gerrard and John C. Dernbach, eds., 2019). The work is supported by Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center. Dozens of law firms and individual lawyers are contributing to this pro-bono effort as drafters, peer reviewers or in reaching out to policymakers.

Our website, modelclimatelaws.org, contains over 70 model laws that are a starting place for discussion and collaboration among elected officials, non-profit groups, and the private sector for enabling the U.S. to address climate change by reducing U.S. GHG emissions to zero by 2050 or earlier. The site includes several Top 10 lists for some of the key categories, like electric vehicles, PUC’s, buildings and other topics as a short-hand introduction. In addition, the site references hundreds of other actions that states and other governmental bodies have taken to move towards decarbonization more rapidly. By providing policymakers the tools to achieve deep decarbonization, the Project will help achieve a restructuring of the energy economy, thus alleviating the worst effects of climate change, which are disproportionately suffered by marginalized communities, while providing such positive benefits as economic security, social equity, and environmental justice (EJ).

Please contact us to talk about getting involved in drafting and peer reviewing legislation, to provide suggestions and feedback on the drafts and to talk about how we can help you support your climate change efforts.

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