
CleanLaw
The Harvard Law School Environmental & Energy Law Program influences policy discussions about environmental, climate, and energy issues. The EELP offers robust legal analysis and practical governance solutions that will move these discussions forward.
Latest episodes

Jun 18, 2020 • 46min
Episode 43: Ari Peskoe speaks with Leah Stokes about State Clean Energy Policies
In this episode Ari Peskoe speaks with Leah Stokes, Professor of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara about state clean energy policies.
Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-43-Ari-and-Leah-Stokes-on-Interest-Groups-and-Utilities.pdf

Jun 17, 2020 • 23min
Episode 42: Ari Peskoe talks about Attacks on Net Metering for Rooftop Solar
Ari Peskoe, Director of our Electricity Law Initiative, describes a petition filed at FERC by a group calling itself the New England Ratepayers Association requesting that FERC find state-regulated net metering arrangements violate federal law and are therefore invalid.
If FERC were to grant NERA’s petition, utilities across the country would likely press state regulators to change the rules that have facilitated recent dramatic growth in rooftop solar.
We made this recording at a press event on June 10th, and these were Ari’s opening remarks. You can read more about this petition here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-electricity-law-initiative-files-comment-in-opposition-to-net-metering-petition/
Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Transcript-of-Ari-Pesko-on-FERC-filing-6-10-20.pdf

May 27, 2020 • 54min
Episode 41: Caitlin McCoy and Bethany Davis Noll on Cost-Benefit Issues in the Clean Cars Rollback
Caitlin McCoy is joined by Bethany Davis Noll, Litigation Director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University Law School. They discuss the recently-finalized Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule, which weakens fuel economy and GHG standards for cars and light trucks. They share some insights into the rule and how it could be challenged.
A transcript of this episode is available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-41-Caitlin-and-Bethany-vehicle-emissions-fuel-efficiency-rollbacks.pdf

Apr 29, 2020 • 19min
Episode 40: Jody Freeman and Alex Griswold on Trump Environmental Rollbacks and Optimism
In this episode Alex Griswold, a research associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment, interviews Professor Jody Freeman, our founding director and also an independent director of ConocoPhillips. They talk about the Trump-era environmental rollbacks that are most troubling to Jody, and why she is still optimistic that we can do better.
Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CleanLaw-40-Jody-Alex-rollbacks-and-optimism_.pdf

Mar 12, 2020 • 53min
Episode 39: MA v EPA - Richard Lazarus Talks to Joe Goffman About His New Book “The Rule of Five"
Joe Goffman interviews Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus about his new book, "The Rule of Five," which describes the drama, strategy, cast of characters, and, above all, the lawyering, by both the litigators and the Justices, that led to the seminal Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA.
Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/39-Goffman-Lazarus-Transcript.pdf

Mar 9, 2020 • 48min
Episode 38: Restricting EPA’s authority - Joe Goffman and Laura Bloomer Talk Clean Air Act Rollbacks
For a transcript of this episode see here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/38-Goffman-Bloomer-Transcript.pdf
EELP Fellow Laura Bloomer speaks with our Executive Director Joe Goffman about how the Trump Administration is using regulatory rollbacks to advance new interpretations of the Clean Air Act that restrict EPA’s authority to address climate change and threaten the agency’s long-term ability to deliver needed reductions in air pollution.
Laura and Joe analyze four rulemakings: (1) the repeal of the Clean Power Plan and its replacement with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, (2) the revocation of California’s preemption waiver for its greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions standards and its Zero Emissions Vehicle program, (3) the proposed withdrawal and replacement of the “appropriate and necessary” finding that underpins the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, and (4) the proposed rescission of methane regulations for the oil and natural gas sector.
See here for links to the individual rules https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-restricting-epas-authority-joe-goffman-and-laura-bloomer-talk-clean-air-act-rollbacks/

Feb 12, 2020 • 46min
Episode 37: National Security and Climate Change, Judge Alice Hill and Hana Vizcarra
Transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Hana-and-Alice-Hill-Transcript-Final-1.pdf
Hana Vizcarra talks with Alice Hill, senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. A former judge and federal prosecutor, Judge Hill served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council.
They discuss her new book with Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Building a Resilient Tomorrow, and her experience developing policy on national security and climate change and incorporating climate resilience considerations into federal decisionmaking.
Her book https://www.alicehillresilience.com/

Jan 27, 2020 • 35min
Episode 36: The FERC PJM Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR)Order with Ari Peskoe and Joe Goffman
Transcript of this episode here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ari-and-Joe-FERC-Transcript-Final-1.pdf
In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's December, 2019 order on PJM’s capacity auction.
Ari's recent op-ed on this rule https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Ari-and-Joe-FERC-Transcript-Final-1.pdf

Jan 17, 2020 • 38min
Episode 35: Electricity Markets and Storage - Ari Peskoe and Jason Burwen
For a full transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ari-and-Jason-Burwen-Transcript-Final.pdf
Ari Peskoe talks with Jason Burwen, vice president for policy at the US Energy Storage Association. They discuss new electricity market rules that aim to pay storage resources for the value they provide to our energy system.
https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/cleanlaw-ari-peskoe-with-jason-burwen-on-electricity-markets-and-storage/

Jan 13, 2020 • 50min
Episode 34: Carbon Price Modeling - Joe Goffman and Alex Barron
See here for a transcript of this episode. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Alex-Barron-and-Joe-Transcription.pdf
Our executive director Joe Goffman speaks with Smith College Professor of Environmental Science and Policy Alex Barron. Alex is a former senior official in EPA’s policy office and discusses his work with economists and other experts to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the economic models we use to analyze carbon pricing policies. See more about this episode and Alex's work here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/cleanlaw-joe-goffman-and-alex-barron-on-carbon-pricing-models/