01/19/2010 02:37:52 PM EST
Renewable Energy Law Developments – American Bar Association Section of Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law – Renewable Energy Committee
This report from the Renewable Energy Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Public Utility, Communications and Transportation Law looks at recent renewable energy law developments. The report begins by noting that “The past few years have seen a shift in public attention, public preference and public policy in favor of renewable forms of energy to a degree not previously seen. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 created a series of tax credits and other policy changes aimed at encouraging the development of renewable energy technologies and the formation of capital aimed at building new energy-producing infrastructure. Following the credit crisis and global recession of 2008 and the election of President Obama in November 2008, the public appetite for government intervention to promote job creation and new investment, together the ascendancy of environmental activists to the executive branch, paved the way for the expansion and extension of many of the policy shifts begun in 2005 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.”
“The topic of renewable energy is hot and receives attention in the press on a weekly basis. Whether public opinion will continue to support the unprecedented amounts of public investment the industry is now receiving and whether that investment will produce the returns its supporters claim remains to be seen,” states the report. The reports seeks “to identify some of the primary mechanisms through which public investments are being made in renewable energy and future reports will track the success of those public investments and the progress of the renewable energy industry more generally.”
The report examines funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, energy tax incentives, incentives for liquid fuels, and incentives for Qualified Advanced Energy Projects.