Climate Law Update: Climate Change & Sustainable Energy News : Thelen Reid Law Firm : Renewable Energy, Construction, Project Finance Lawyers & Attorneys

This month, the U.S. Department of Energy is scheduled to solicit applications for more than $30 billion in federal loan guarantees for projects that are geared toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other forms of pollution, according to a detailed overview of the program prepared by two Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner attorneys.

About two-thirds of the guarantees are slated to support efforts associated with advanced nuclear energy facilities. But significant amounts also are targeted toward renewable energy, energy efficiency and transmission, transportation, and fossil fuel improvements, such as carbon capture and sequestration, wrote the attorneys, energy partner Ellen Friedman (pictured at left) and business associate Matthew Murphy (pictured at right).

According to their analysis, “New Support for New Alternatives: A Preliminary Look at the Department of Energy Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program for Innovative Alternative Energy Projects," energy officials have indicated that in evaluating the initial applications they will focus on a number of criteria. Those include the degree to which the projects avoid greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution; the speed with which the technology can go into commercial use; potential cost savings to consumers; the likelihood of repayment to the projects’ sponsors and the potential for commercial success. The department also has noted that the technology must either be new or that it represent a “significant improvement” over technology already in use.

In connection with larger projects, applicants will be required to submit a preliminary credit rating assessment and will, as a condition to receiving a loan guarantee, need to obtain a credit rating. The department, the attorneys also noted, has backed away from automatically assigning a negative connotation to projects that receive assistance, such as tax credits, from other government agencies.  

Another round of solicitations is expected to be made later this summer for projects qualifying for $8 billion in loan guarantees. Those guarantees would help support fossil fuel projects, such as carbon capture and sequestration, industrial gasification and advanced coal gasification.

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• In California, the California Public Utilities Commission has named Frank Rich Lindh, an attorney with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, as the agency's new general counsel. In the past, Lindh had served as general counsel for a gas pipeline company and as an appellate attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. His appointment drew this comment from Peter V. Allen, a former attorney and administrative law judge at the CPUC who is now of counsel specializing in energy issues with Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner:

"Frank Lindh is an excellent choice for the CPUC general counsel. He is not just a good attorney who really knows about energy regulation at both the state and federal levels, but he is also a pleasant person to work with. Even when we were on opposite sides of an issue, Frank was always civil and professional. But perhaps the most important thing is that he has a good sense of humor."

• As the Senate makes ready to take up the big Lieberman-Warner climate change bill on Monday, the cap-and-trade legislation appears headed for trouble because of a loss of support from some influential businesses, according to a Fortune Magazine report appearing at CNN Money.
• Talk about unintended consequences of the booming interest in alternative fuels -- how about rampant thievery of once-worthless restaurant grease, the raw material for making biodiesel? Read all about the new "rustling" phenomenon in this article from The New York Times.
• Climate change, population growth and pollution are combining to turn water into "blue gold,"  reports the Christian Science Monitor.
• Save the (plastic) shopping bag, argues the Canadian plastics industry, which maintains a growing trend to ban the bags could cause more environmental harm than good, according to this Reuters story.
• Efforts to develop "clean coal" technology, in which carbon dioxide is captured and pumped into the ground, are lagging badly, raising the possibility that new coal plants may be built with existing technology, says The New York Times. Climate Law Update has also reported on this topic, including a recent story about new federal support for coal technology research projects.
• Smaller solar subsidies appear to be better than none, seems to be the suggestion from this posting on the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital blog.
• A group of 1,700 leading scientists called on the U.S. government to take the lead in fighting global warming, reports the Guardian.

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