Northwest Energy Law*

Description:

The course will focus on the legal and regulatory framework that governs the energy industry, with particular focus on energy issues in the Pacific Northwest. We will cover state and federal regulation of investor-owned utilities and examine the setting of rates and the development of generating resources by monopoly electricity utilities. We will study the laws governing the Bonneville Power Administration, the interaction of investor-owned and consumer-owned utilities with the federal Columbia River System, and legal issues unique to the Pacific Northwest due to the impact of hydroelectric generation on electricity prices and the environment.

We will focus on the major trends in the electricity industry at the state, regional and national level, key among them the political and industry response to global warming. We will examine recently-enacted state legislation, and potential Western region and Congressional action concerning carbon regulation and the promotion of renewable resources. In addition, we will look at the deregulation trends in the industry and the factors that led to the Western energy crisis in 2001. We will also look at the consolidation trends in the industry. We will examine case law and statutes, but we will also look at state and federal agency decisions, policy planning and even a little bit of science.

*Offered every other year