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New and Notable Additions

LPDD May Newsletter

New External Resources

modelclimatelaws.org is being continually updated with new, external legal resources. Below is a selection of recently added resources, including a crop of recently passed laws out of Maryland and Virginia:

  • New EPA Rules on Power Plant Emissions: In April, EPA announced a suite of final rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants, promulgated under separate authorities including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The rules included a final rule that would ensure that, beginning in 2032, all coal-fired plants that plan to run past 2039 and all new baseload gas-fired plants that plan to operate at least 40 percent of the time must cut at least 90 percent of their carbon pollution. This is the first federal mandate to cut carbon dioxide from power plants. New rules also included limits on toxic metals and mercury from existing lignite-fired sources; limits on wastewater pollution from coal-fired power plants; and requirements for the safe management of coal ash.
  • New Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits (CITAP) Rule: In April, the DOE finalized the Coordinated Interagency Transmission Authorizations and Permits (CITAP) rule, which gives transmission developers a new option for a streamlined federal review process with a standard two-year schedule -- cutting timeframes in half for the most complex environmental reviews. DOE released a draft standard schedule template that outlines how all the Federal environmental reviews and authorizations will be consolidated for a transmission project into a two-year review timeline. This work is responsive to widespread concerns about permitting hurdles stunting the impact of Inflation Reduction Act funds. Our project has drafted extensively on accelerating federal permits.
  • Maryland Laws on Common-Interest Developments: In April, Maryland adopted a pair of laws addressing common interest developments. Maryland's SB 465 prohibits the enforcement of rules that limit or prevent the installation and use of EV charging equipment in housing cooperatives, including charging equipment for electric bicycles. This model law is similar in scope to our LPDD model law restricting covenants against EV charging stations at common-interest developments. Separately, SB 206 amends the Maryland Condominium Act to allow condominium associations to lease solar panels, energy storage systems, and EV chargers to help meet the state’s clean energy goals.
  • Maryland's GHG Reduction Targets for Utilities: Maryland's HB 864  directs the state’s public service commission to establish GHG emissions reduction targets for utilities as part of a suite of revisions to the state's EmPOWER Maryland efficiency program. Electric utilities will need to achieve at least the GHG emissions reduction equivalent of annual electricity savings of 2% in 2024, 2.24% in 2025 and 2026, and 2.5% for each year after that. This application of GHG targets into traditionally energy-only efficiency programs may be a useful model for other states.
  • Vermont's 100% Renewables by 2035 Legislation: In May, Vermont's Senate passed a measure that would require all utilities to provide 100 percent clean energy by 2035, after the House had done so earlier in the year. The bill would put the state on track to be among the first to fully decarbonize (outpaced only by Rhode Island, which requires utilities to provide all-renewable power by 2033). The bill represents the first major update to the state’s renewable energy standard in nearly a decade. It would require the state’s largest utility, Green Mountain Power, to reach that target by 2030, while giving smaller municipal utilities until 2035. At the time of this writing, the bill remains unsigned. While the governor is expected to veto the measure, many observers expect the bill has sufficient support to override a potential veto.
  • Virginia Adds Geothermal to RPS: Virginia's SB 508, passed in April, makes geothermal heating and cooling systems located within the state eligible resources under the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS), a significant measure for using RPS targets to help electrify buildings.
  • Virginia's EV-Ready Public Building Codes: Virginia recently adopted EV-Ready building standards for new county, city, town, or school buildings larger than 5,000 square feet, a subject on which LPDD has also authored models at the residential and commercial level.
  • How to Decarbonize Industrial Process Heat While Building American Manufacturing Competitiveness: In April, ACEEE published a report on decarbonizing industrial process heat, long considered the “hard to decarbonize” sector. The report estimates that 40% of current industrial emissions can be addressed by deployable technology with net-positive economics by 2030, but robust policy support is needed. It outlines key actions that can be taken by U.S. federal policymakers, U.S. state and local policymakers, utilities and system planners, and regulators.
  • Emerging Opportunities in Planning for U.S. Gas System Decarbonization: RMI and National Grid offer this May 2024 report surveying the use of non-pipeline alternatives (NPAs) and integrated energy planning (IEP), of special significance for states planning the phaseout of natural gas in pursuit of net-zero emissions targets. NPAs aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by offering alternatives to traditional natural gas systems, including electrification of equipment or connection to lower-carbon infrastructure like thermal energy networks. National Grid and RMI’s research focused on nine case studies from the United States and Europe that shed light on NPAs and IEP. From this survey, the report offers eight insights for further exploration by U.S. utilities, regulators, policymakers, and other stakeholders, including recommendations for policy changes from state regulators.
  • Virginia's Urban Forestry Planning Legislation: Virginia's recently-passed SB 461 requires the Department of Forestry, in coordination with a Technical Advisory Committee composed of stakeholders, to develop a Forestland and Urban Tree Canopy Conservation Plan by November 2026, and update this plan at least once every five years.
  • Sabin Center's Rebutting 33 False Claims About Solar, Wind, and Electric Vehicles: This April report from the Sabin Center examines 33 of the most pervasive false claims about solar energy, wind energy, and electric vehicles, tackling such popular topics as the mineral requirements to build solar panels, the land requirements for wind turbines, and the lifecycle emissions from EVs.
  • Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap: This roadmap from the ICEF Innovation Roadmap Project asks whether AI can help cut emissions of greenhouse gases, and explores how. The report discusses six areas in which AI is helping respond to climate change already, including emissions monitoring, the power sector, manufacturing, materials innovation, food system, and road transport. The report concludes with a robust discussion of government policies that can support the beneficial uses of AI, and mitigate against its risks.

Spotlight on Equity: This April 2024 report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) ranks 75 of the largest U.S. cities on energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and identifies the best-performing cities. In this year's edition, the Scorecard increased its focus on energy policies that advance racial and social equity, and notes that very few cities attained even half the available points under that metric.

Also, the recently-published Emerald Cities J40 Playbook offers low income, rural, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), frontline, and fenceline communities, and community-based organizations that serve these communities, guidance for developing Community Benefit Plans (CBP) that leverage the Justice40 Initiative, and ultimately securing federal infrastructure investment under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

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!

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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 80 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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