Overview

A domestic energy boom is underway with major new energy projects being sited on both private and public lands, including wind projects, utility-scale solar projects, oil and gas projects, and associated transmission lines and pipeline projects.

Many of these projects leave significant footprints, with related negative impacts on their local environments that need to be evaluated.

Students worked closely with policymakers in Sacramento and Washington in evaluating new regulatory and market-based options to address the environmental impacts of energy-related projects. The practicum teams worked in real time on new state and federal initiatives to develop more expedited and effective mechanisms to compensate for environmental impacts of energy and other infrastructure projects, including a number of large renewable energy projects that currently are being developed on public and private lands in the southwest. The seminar also explored the full range of environmental issues associated with major infrastructure development. Their report contributed directly to improved permitting methods for environmental projects in two significant Federal actions: the Obama Administration Executive Order 13604 (infrastructure permitting reform initiative) and the new Interagency Permitting and Review Council.