CleanLaw

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Kevin co-chairs the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practice Group, Energy Industry Group, and ESG Practice. Kevin and Carrie discuss what is at stake with the appeals to the Supreme Court of the D.C. Circuit decision to vacate the Trump Administration’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule for the power sector. They also discuss advice to new litigators. Note: this episode was recorded on August 24th, the day the petitioners' replies were due. Here is a full transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Carrie-and-Kevin-Discuss-ACE-Rule.pdf

Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Aminta Ossom, a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she focuses on equality, inclusion, and economic and social rights. They discuss how looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmental injustice in the United States and beyond. They also feature guest commentary from Tripti Poddar, a litigating attorney practicing in Delhi and Assam. She's also a consultant with legal empowerment organization called Nazdeek, based in Delhi, where she supports community-led advocacy and research on economic and social rights. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-60-Hannah-Aminta-Tripti-Human-Rights.pdf Links from the show: The Center for Economic and Social Rights' OPERA Framework https://www.cesr.org/opera-landing Nazdeek https://nazdeek.org/ Our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ejtracker/ Our Biden 100 Days Report https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bidens-First-100-Days-FINAL.pdf

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe speaks with Brandon Smithwood, Senior Director of Policy at Dimension Renewable Energy. They talk about business models for development of small-scale renewable energy and storage systems. Please see here for a transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-59-Ari-and-Brandon-Smithwood-on-Distributed-Energy-Business-Models.pdf

EELP Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra and Fellow Hannah Perls talk about the progress of the Biden administration on climate and environmental priorities now that the first hundred days have passed. We originally posted this as a video, which you can view at the link below. Transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-58-Hannah-and-Hana-Assess-Biden-Progress-in-First-100-Days-1.pdf Video link: https://youtu.be/EhvV80q8kx8 Other links we mention: Corporate Climate-Related Disclosure https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/topic/corporate-climate/ Rethinking the “One National Program” for Clean Cars https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/rethinking-the-one-national-program/ US Regulatory Barriers to an Ambitious Paris Agreement Commitment https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/us-paris-commitment/ And check out our extensive report on the first 100 days! https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Bidens-First-100-Days-FINAL.pdf

EELP Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Naeema Muhammad and Elizabeth Haddix. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Elizabeth is a Managing Attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She previously was the Senior Staff Attorney at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights where she led the center’s environmental justice docket from 2010 until 2017, when UNC eliminated the Center’s ability to represent clients, after which Elizabeth and the Center’s only other staff attorney, Mark Dorosin, formed the Julius Chambers Center for Civil Rights and continued to represent all their clients. In 2019, the Chambers Center became the Lawyers’ Committee’s only regional office. This is the second episode in a 2-part series in which we look at environmental justice litigation in eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. https://ncejn.org/ https://lawyerscommittee.org/ Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-57-Hannah-Naeema-Elizabeth-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI-pt-2.pdf

In this episode EELP Fellow Hannah Perls spoke with Naeema Muhammad and Alexis Andiman. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Alexis Andiman is a staff attorney with the Sustainable Food & Farming Program with Earthjustice. This is the first episode in a 2-part series in which we’ll look at some of the legal tools advocates are using to challenge the disparate impacts of pollution in environmental justice communities. In both episodes, we’ll be focusing on eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-56-Hannah-Naeema-Alexis-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI.pdf For more on Naeema's and Alexis's work: https://ncejn.org/ https://earthjustice.org/about/offices/sustainable-food-farming

Note: this episode was recorded in January, 2021. In this episode our staff attorney Caitlin McCoy was joined by Justin Gundlach and Elizabeth Stein to discuss their recent article "Harmonizing States' Energy Utility Regulation Frameworks and Climate Laws. A Case Study of New York."  Justin is a senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. His work focuses on state-level energy and climate policy. And he's a coeditor of Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law, and the author of numerous publications and amicus briefs on legal and policy issues related to the impacts of energy use on climate and of climate change on infrastructure and public health.  Elizabeth is the lead counsel for energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund. She engages in state proceedings to advocate for aligning energy policies with state climate policies. And she has a particular focus on reducing reliance on oil and gas in transportation and in the building sector. She's successfully developed and advocated for best practices in the electric system to make sure that the grid is resilient and supports sustainability and reliability. And an important part of her work of course is collaborating with state and local agencies.  Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CleanLaw-55-Caitlin-Elizabeth-Justin-NY.pdf

Ari Peskoe, speaks with Scott Hempling, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication. Scott has also written about FERC’s review of utility merger applications in a 2018 Energy Law Journal Article entitled Inconsistent with the Public Interest: FERC’s Three Decades of Deference to Electricity Consolidation. Note: we recorded this episode in early November, 2020. See here for a full transcript of this episode. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-54-Ari-and-Scott-Hempling-on-Electric-Utility-Mergers.pdf

In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Texas Tech Climate Center and Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science. Professor Hayhoe talks about the cutting edge science of climate change attribution, how she tries to help the public understand the reality of climate change by making it local, how best to assess and report the impacts of it, and why she is hopeful. Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-53-goffman-hayhoe.pdf

In this episode, our Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe speaks with Matto Mildenberger, assistant professor of political science at the UC Santa Barbara, about the politics of carbon pricing. Note - we recorded this episode in late October, prior to the presidential election. This is a link to the article they discuss http://bostonreview.net/science-nature-politics/matto-mildenberger-leah-c-stokes-trouble-carbon-pricing Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-52-Ari-and-Matto-on-Carbon-Pricing.pdf