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8 Geo. Wash. J. Energy & Envtl. L. 1 (2017-2018)

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                                          FOREWORD





The Electricity Fuel Mix of the Future



                                               Emily Hammond*


The National Academy of Engineering maintains a
       list of the greatest engineering achievements of the
       twentieth  century.! Number one is electrification.
The  twentieth  century was  about  building up  infrastruc-
ture, expanding capital investments, and ultimately, opening
markets.2 If we can now  move  toward  a sustainable, low- or
zero-emission grid, surely future generations will view that
transformation  as among   the greatest achievements of the
twenty-first century.
   During  the Obama administration, significant   progress
toward  a decarbonized  grid took shape under  federal lead-
ership. Most   prominently,  the Environmental   Protection
Agency's  (EPA) Clean  Power  Plan (CPP)  envisioned an
increasingly greener grid.3 And although the CPP is currently
stayed pending   litigation,' other developments offer great
promise. For  example, some  competitive wholesale  electric-
ity market operators are considering market rules that would
account  for the price of carbon, subject to approval by the
Federal Energy  Regulatory Commission   (FERC).
   As I write this Foreword in early November   2016, how-
ever, the energy and environmental  community   is wrestling
with  the implications of a Trump   administration.6 Earlier
this spring, Trump   tweeted that climate change  is a hoax

* Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School. I
thank the many participants in the 2016 Shapiro Symposium whose
work makes an ongoing contribution to the project of decarbonizing
the grid. And I especially thank the members of GW JEEL and the
Environmental Law Association for their efforts in making the 2016
Shapiro Symposium  a success. These students-bright, motivated,
and hard-working-are certain to play critical roles in achieving our
sustainable future.
1.  GREATEST ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE 20TH CENTURY, NAT'L ACAD.
    OF ENGINEERING (2016), http://www.greatachievements.org/.
2.  For a detailed history, see generally STEVE ISSER, ELECTRICITY RESTRUCTURING
    IN THE UNITED STATES: MARKETS AND POLICY FROM THE 1978 ENERGY ACT
    TO THE PRESENT (2015).
3.  Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Elec-
    tric Utility Generating Units, 80 Fed. Reg. 64,661 (Oct. 23, 2015) [hereinaf-
    ter CPP].
4.  North Dakota v. EPA, No. 15A793 (U.S. Feb. 9, 2016).
5.  Suedeen G. Kelly & Shawn Whites, Pricing Carbon in Wholesale Electric-
    ity Markets: RTOs/ISOs Looking at a Carbon Price to Integrate Regional Pub-
    lic Policy Goals, AKIN Gump STRAUSS HAUER & FELD L.L.P. (Oct. 21, 2016),
    https://www.akingump.com/en/experience/industries/energy/speaking-energy/
    pricing-carbon-in-wholesale-electricity-markets-rtos-isos.html; William Opal-
    ka, New England Roundtable Considers Carbon Pricing, State PPAs, RTO IN-
    SIDER (Oct. 3, 2016), https://www.rtoinsider.com/new-england-restructuring-
    roundtable-carbon-pricing-32271/.
6.  On November 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump became President-Elect of the Unit-
    ed States.


created by the Chinese  government.7  The  head of his EPA
transition team is a known climate change denier.' The CPP
seems doomed,'  and  it is unlikely that a Federal Energy Reg-
ulatory Commission   dominated  by Trump  appointees would
approve market  rules that account for carbon.o
   Although  the  immediate  future for a green  grid seems
bleak, the pages of this Symposium   Edition of the George
Washington  Journal ofEnergy  and Environmental  Law offer a
great deal of hope. They reflect both vision-which  will not
be extinguished  over a mere  presidential term-and   prag-
matic  thinking that provides insights into how  green grid
policies can get the most traction in the near future.
   I will turn to those insights momentarily, but first, a more
general word  of introduction may   be helpful. The George
Washington   University Law  School's annual J.B. and Mau-
rice C. Shapiro Environmental  Law  Symposium   of 2016 was
directly aimed at environmental, economic,  and governance
issues for the electricity mix in the coming decades. Over the
course of the two-day,  multi-disciplinary symposium,  par-
ticipants discussed topics ranging from incorporating  envi-
ronmental  attributes into the rules of electricity dispatch, to
modeling  the future electricity fuel mix, to integrating non-
generation  resources and new   technologies into the grid's
infrastructure. One theme  was especially strong throughout
these discussions: All levels of governance-federal, regional,
state, and local-matter to the electricity mix of the future.
   Therein lie the insights of the articles collected in the com-
ing pages. Although   the 2016  Symposium was conceived
against a backdrop  of important  federal activity, we would
do well to recall that, prior to the Obama administration, the
states were at the leading edge of the project of grid decar-
bonization. Even  if the federal momentum is temporarily
lost, there is reason for excitement about what can be accom-
plished in other fora.
   As Professor Joel B. Eisen explains in his work DualElec-
tricity Federalism Is Dead, But How Dead, and What  Replaces

7.  Louis Jacobsen, Yes, Trump Did Call Climate Change a Chinese Hoax,
    POLITIFACT (June 3, 2016, 12:00 PM), http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-
    meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-
    climate-change-chinese-h/.
8.  Robin Bravender, Trump Picks Top Climate Skeptic to Lead EPA Transi-
    tion, ScI. AM., Sept. 26, 2016, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/
    trump-picks-top-climate-skeptic-to-lead-epa-transition/.
9.  Keith Goldberg, Trump Win Could Moot Cases Over Obama Climate Regs,
    LAw360, Nov. 9, 2016.
10. There are currently two vacancies at FERC, with another one coming in July
    2017. Under the Federal Power Act, all of these vacancies may be filled by
    Republicans. See 42 U.S.C. § 7171(b) (2012) (Not more than three members
    of the Commission shall be members of the same political party.).


GEORGE   WASHINGTON JOURNAL OF ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL LAW


Winter 2017

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