As one can imagine, the law firms that work for the renewable energy industry are quite busy in helping their clients navigate the issues that surround the development of major projects, whether they’re in solar, wind, biomass, etc. The large law firm Stoel Rives specializes in this space, and was good enough to speak with me at length at last month’s Renewable Energy Finance Forum; they even sent me free copies of a dozen or so comprehensive and beautifully printed documents that summarize the major legal issues confronting developers in each major arena within the clean energy industry.
I had to laugh when I looked at the first couple of pages in the publication: “The Law of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy,” as it shows at a glance one of the major reasons that the United States is moving at a snail’s pace with respect to the development of alternative energy technologies.
Imagine, if you will, that you’ve invented some new way of extracting energy out of moving water, and you have an eye towards commercializing it. You come across this manual, pour yourself a hot cup of coffee, and begin reading. The introduction includes:
The siting of a marine or hydrokinetic energy project will involve numerous federal, state, tribal, and non-governmental entities charged with or having substation interests in laws, regulations, and program relating hydropower facilities, water quality, and in-water discharges, state and federal lands located beneath the sea, coastal resources and marine sanctuaries, underwater and other cultural resources, shipping and navigation, crabbing and fishing, endangered and threatened species, marine mammals, migratory birds and seabirds, and recreational and public safety, among other things.
On the next page you find a partial list of the agencies that will be involved in the approval of your project. The main two that are associated with the power itself are the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). But beyond there, you encounter:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Coast Guard
National Marine Fisheries Service
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
Federal land owner agencies
Affected tribes
State agency administering the Clean Water Act
State lands manager
State fish and wildlife agencies
State water resources managers
State and tribal historic preservation officers
State energy facility siting councils
County commissions
Local governments
Ports
Fishing and crabbing commissions
Non-governmental interest groups
Public utility districts and investor-owned utilities
Private landowners
Cable committee (I’m not sure what this is)
You think to yourself, “Well, I could hire Stoel Rives; they obviously have experience here.” But wouldn’t a more rational and likely conclusion be: “No. Sorry, make that ‘Hell No.’ Anyone who thinks he’s going to placate 22 different bureaucratic agencies, each a gigantic dispenser of red tape, each doing its best to stop your progress, is a complete moron.”
