The Environmental Responsibility of the Regionalizing Electric Utility Industry

In this Article, I will address environmental issues in the context of our rapidly evolving understanding of restructuring. The market for electricity is fast becoming a series of regional marketplaces for wholesale transactions, operating on bid-based systems that move power at the lowest cost. There are plenty of states where power is still delivered as it has been for decades: by bundled service provided by vertically integrated utilities. However, the trend is toward regionalization, where independent entities control the transmission grid and play a major role in determining how power is delivered. These market participants, confusingly, have been known by a number of names and acronyms, though the most recent one is regional transmission organizations ( RTOs ). The trend toward regiona

Virtual in situs: Sequencing mRNA from cryo-sliced Drosophila embryos to determine genome-wide spatial patterns of gene expression

Complex spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression underlie embryo differentiation, yet methods do not yet exist for the efficient genome-wide determination of spatial expression patterns during development. In situ imaging of transcripts and proteins is the gold-standard, but it is difficult and time consuming to apply to an entire genome, even when highly automated. Sequencing, in contrast, is fast and genome-wide, but is generally applied to homogenized tissues, thereby discarding spatial information. It is likely that these methods will ultimately converge, and we will be able to sequence RNAs in situ, simultaneously determining their identity and location. As a step along this path, we developed methods to cryosection individual blastoderm stage Drosophila melanogaster embryos along the anterior-posterior axis and sequence the mRNA isolated from each 25 micron slice. The spatial patterns of gene expression we infer closely match patterns previously determined by in situ hybridization and microscopy. We applied this method to generate a genome-wide timecourse of spatial gene expression from shortly after fertilization through gastrulation. We identify numerous genes with spatial patterns that have not yet been described in the several ongoing systematic in situ based projects. This simple experiment demonstrates the potential for combining careful anatomical dissection with high-throughput sequencing to obtain spatially resolved gene expression on a genome-wide scale.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 7 supplemental figures (available on request from [email protected]

Characterization of the transcriptome, nucleotide sequence polymorphism, and natural selection in the desert adapted mouse Peromyscus eremicus

As a direct result of intense heat and aridity, deserts are thought to be among the most harsh of environments, particularly for their mammalian inhabitants. Given that osmoregulation can be challenging for these animals, with failure resulting in death, strong selection should be observed on genes related to the maintenance of water and solute balance. One such animal, Peromyscus eremicus, is native to the desert regions of the southwest United States and may live its entire life without oral fluid intake. As a first step toward understanding the genetics that underlie this phenotype, we present a characterization of the P. eremicus transcriptome. We assay four tissues (kidney, liver, brain, testes) from a single individual and supplement this with population level renal transcriptome sequencing from 15 additional animals. We identified a set of transcripts undergoing both purifying and balancing selection based on estimates of Tajima’s D. In addition, we used the branch-site test to identify a transcript—Slc2a9, likely related to desert osmoregulation—undergoing enhanced selection in P. eremicus relative to a set of related non-desert rodents

Stigmatized Sites and Urban Brownfield Redevelopment

This chapter addresses the stigmatized sites located in urban areas in the United States and Europe and the brownfields redevelopment programs aimed at removing the stigma and promoting remediation and reuse of these sites. Although the European Union has put regulatory frameworks in place, the United States has led the global effort to address brown fields redevelopment, and the discussion in this chapter will focus on American models for brown fields remediation and reuse

Rapanos, Carabell, and the Isolated Man

We gather yet again this year at the University of Richmond to discuss the deplorable state of the Chesapeake Bay and the concerted effort needed to bring it back from the brink of death. The state of the Bay seems not much better than it did eleven years ago, when a group of wise souls who cared deeply about the Bay assembled at this law school to revisit the Kepone incident and call for more action to stem pollution in the Bay. To no one\u27s surprise, unfortunately, that august group assembled in our Moot Court Room did not solve the Bay\u27s problems

Smart Regulation and Federalism For the Smart Grid

This Article examines the “Smart Grid,” a set of concepts, technologies, and operating practices that may transform America’s electric grid as much as the Internet has done, redefining every aspect of electricity generation, distribution, and use. While the Smart Grid’s promise is great, this Article examines numerous key barriers to its development, including early stage resistance, a lack of incentives for consumers, and the adverse impacts of the federal-state tension in energy regulation. Overcoming these barriers requires both new technologies and transformative regulatory change, beginning with the development of a foundation of interoperability standards (rules of the road governing interactions on the Smart Grid) that will influence development for many years. This Article describes the federally coordinated standard-setting process started in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, leading to a collaborative dialogue among hundreds of participants, with leadership from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”). After setting forth the need for interoperability standards and elaborating on the standard-setting process, the Article focuses on a 2011 order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) that declined to adopt an initial group of standards. While this may appear a step backward, the Article argues to the contrary, finding that FERC’s order supports the flexibility of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel, the NIST-led process that will produce interoperability standards critical to a wide range of energy saving technologies. FERC’s order allows this process, not a regulator’s imprimatur, to give standards credibility. By holding off on forcing adoption of the standards, but preserving the potential for more significant federal intervention later, it may lead to state adoption of the resulting standards. In this adaptive approach to energy law federalism, neither top-down federal regulation nor private sector standard setting is the exclusive means of overseeing Smart Grid development. FERC’s approach may promote a more positive federal-state relationship in the development of the Smart Grid, and may even portend a more collaborative relationship in energy law federalism generally, avoiding the disruptive jurisdictional clashes that have marked recent attempts to innovate in the electric grid

China\u27s Renewable Energy Law: A Platform for Green Leadership?

This article describes programs and initiatives in China promoting growth of renewable energy capacity, and analyzes obstacles to future growth

Are We Ready For Mediation in Cyberspace?

In Part I, I provide a brief model of a hypothetical multiparty environmental mediation proceeding. I describe limits on environmental mediation common to both the online and offline settings, and provide a model for analysis of the hypothetical proceeding. In Parts II and III, I consider limits on online mediation\u27s potential that derive from the electronic character of the proceeding. In Part II, I discuss challenges for online mediation and conclude that such mediation, particularly complex proceedings such as environmental disputes, should be deferred for the time being. In Part III, I discuss additional concerns about the flow of communication in online mediation suggested by an analogy to the dynamics of online communities

Brownfields Redevelopment

Critiquing how brownfields programs expanded without much attention to developments in the international environmental arena will illustrate some ways to alter them to comport with Agenda 21 and other prerequisites for sustainable development. Another interesting aspect of this analysis for the Rio+ 10 review is its timing. The state and federal programs have mushroomed since 1992; for example, while a small of states had voluntary cleanup programs 10 years ago, virtually every state has one now, and there is considerable increasing experience with them. If adjustments to these programs should be developed to comport with the prescriptions of Agenda 21 this be an excellent time to consider making them. A caveat is in order at the outset: discussion offers only a briefintroduction to this rapidly expanding field. Much has been written about it, including two treatises and numerous law review articles, and more is forthcoming at a rapid pace. For now, it is this Chapter\u27s aim to describe some ways in which existing state and federal programs could be enhanced to achieve Agenda 21 \u27s objectives

The Blackout of 2003: What Is Next?

The blackout of August 2003 was a massive dislocation of American life, with millions of people in eight states and Canada losing power and a cost estimated in billions of dollars. As many as fifty million people were affected by the blackout. While the ultimate cause of the blackout is still being investigated, the implications for national policy may not be fully known for decades. The blackout was a wake up call and a watershed event that calls for reevaluation of just about every facet of the electric utility industry. We tend to think of a wakeup call as something that awakens us from a moribund state, but this event was different. For the past decade and longer, the electric power industry has already been grappling with fundamental changes. Restructuring, the introduction of competition at the retail and wholesale levels, the costly and protracted debates about the intersection of the federal Clean Air Act with the industry, all of this activity was taking place and already redefining the industry at the time the blackout happened