Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative

In 2019, Arnold & Porter seconded an associate with the firm’s Environmental Practice Group to work half-time with Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, which is directed by former A&P partner and now senior counsel Michael Gerrard. Laura and Mike launched a new project through the Sabin Center called the Renewable Energy Legal Defense Initiative (RELDI), the overarching goal of which is to provide pro bono legal assistance to groups that support renewable energy projects and associated storage and transmission in their communities, but where local opposition is posing siting challenges. This initiative has already begun litigating. Earlier this year, A&P filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of farmers and landowners in upstate New York challenging a local zoning law that severely limits development of utility-scale solar energy. Specifically, the law precludes the plaintiffs from leasing their land to a proposed solar developer and participating in a project that would help the state of New York achieve its ambitious renewable energy goals of 70% renewable energy by 2030. More recently, RELDI has begun representing a pro-wind group that supports a 15-turbine, 132 MW offshore wind project expected to provide electricity for 70,000 homes in the South Fork of Long Island, in proceedings before the New York State Public Service Commission relating to the siting of a transmission cable necessary for the project. RELDI has also done non-litigation advocacy work on behalf of several individuals who are interested in hosting renewable energy projects on their properties but face local zoning challenges.