Flood Basics still causing pain for some
Climate-Proofing Our Infrastructure: Building Climate Resilience with the Army Corps of Engineers
The Calm Before and After the Storm: How to Maximize Insurance Recovery for Catastrophic Weather Events
Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
Employer Responsibilities During the Texas Winter Storm
Filing Insurance Claims After the Texas Winter Storm
Hurricane Season Begins
On June 14, 2024, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a pivotal opinion concerning the actions of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (Commission) during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri. In Public Utility Commission of Texas v....more
In February 2021, winter storm Uri hit Texas, causing a sharp spike in electricity demand that could not be satisfied by available generation resources, resulting in statewide blackouts. Commercial, industrial and residential...more
The use of factual/counterfactual comparisons—that is, estimating the difference between what actually happened and what would have happened absent an event—is a fundamental tool in the economists’ work box in the context of...more
On Sept. 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of Texas announced it will review a lower court’s reversal of two winter storm Uri orders by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT), which date back to 2021. During the historic...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) on June 15, 2023, finalized a rule requiring interstate electric transmission providers to file one-time informational reports assessing the susceptibility of...more
On February 16, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) issued an order approving two extreme cold weather reliability standards: EOP-011-3 (Emergency Operations) and EOP-012-1 (Extreme Cold Weather...more
On February 16, 2023, FERC approved two new extreme cold weather Reliability Standards—EOP-011-3 (Emergency Operations) and EOP-012-1 (Extreme Cold Weather Preparedness and Operations)—filed by the North American Electric...more
To help prevent wildfires during extreme weather conditions, California electric utility companies have adopted the use of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). Beginning in 2017, PSPS have been utilized to reduce the risk of...more
If 2020 was the year of the great energy disconnect, 2021 was the year the people carrying out the energy debate appeared to be living on different planets, floating aimlessly through time and space and never intersecting...more
On November 16, 2021, staff from FERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (“NERC”), and certain Regional Reliability Entities issued a final report on the 2021 winter storms that severely impacted the bulk...more
On November 10, 2021, ERCOT held a workshop on Generation Entity Winter Weather Preparedness. At this workshop, ERCOT provided an explanation of its approach to implementing the Public Utility Commission’s Winter Emergency...more
With winter coming, many are questioning whether Texas will be able to avoid another catastrophic loss of power like that experienced during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. While regulators have known the causes of the...more
As the cold weather season approaches, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) are taking action to prevent a repeat of the devastating electric power...more
During the 87th regular legislative session, the Texas Legislature passed several bills to address energy-related issues resulting from Winter Storm Uri. Together, the legislation required an overhaul of the ERCOT board of...more
At the open monthly meeting of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Sept. 23, 2021, a joint team composed of the staffs of FERC, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and NERC's various...more
Beginning on February 13, 2021, something unprecedented happened in the state of Texas—a winter storm caused temperatures to dip well-below freezing. This event, dubbed the “Black Swan Winter Event,” caused Texas to...more
The winter storm that descended on Texas in February 2021 is a reminder of why organizations should assess their strategy and operations to manage and mitigate risk before chaos ensues....more
After Winter Storm Uri devastated the ERCOT grid, calls for industry reform rang out across the state of Texas. For the past few months, public hearings and floor debates have considered wide-ranging proposals to harden the...more
Starting in late February, over 2.7 million Texas households were left without energy and over 100 people died as a severe winter storm caused a series of rolling blackouts across Texas, drawing national attention to the...more
On March 5, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced a virtual, public technical conference “to discuss issues surrounding the threat to electric system reliability posed by climate change and extreme...more
Some may call the winter storm that descended on Texas a “black swan” event, but it may in fact be a “perfect storm” born out of existing market dynamics that could’ve been avoided....more
The Public Utility Commission of Texas has issued a series of orders since Friday, February 19, 2021 to address the potential of mass transitions of retail electric customers and retail billing issues resulting from the...more
The winter storm that recently hit Texas has caused more power outages and damage to the electric grid than any storm in decades. However, extreme weather events have hit other regions of the U.S. more recently, and Texas may...more
Legal, legislative, and procurement issues related to this week’s widespread failures of the Texas power grid have and will continue to result in significant losses for numerous businesses and individuals in Texas and...more
Following a week of extremely cold temperatures which caused millions of Texans to be without power, in some cases for longer that three days, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced that it will be...more