In Rethinking Grid Governance for the Climate Change Era, Prof. Shelley Welton makes a compelling case for why “U.S. grid governance must be redesigned to accommodate a new era of regulatory priorities that include responding to climate change.” As the operators of regional electricity markets and managers of the transmission grid, Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) “must play a pivotal role” in achieving clean electricity goals.

This Comment is based on Tom Hassenboehler’s remarks at the 2021-2022 Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review conference, available at https://www.eli.org/ environmental-law-policy-annual-review/2021-2022-ELPAR-conference.

One central but under-scrutinized way that fossil fuel companies impede the clean energy transition is by essentially running the United States’ electricity grid, writing its rules to favor their own private interests. In most of the country, the electricity grid is managed by Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). RTOs are private membership clubs in which incumbent industry members make the rules for electricity markets and the electricity grid through private mini-democracies—with voting privileges reserved for RTO members—under broad regulatory authority.

Leo Strine, Kirby Smith, and Reilly Steel make an important contribution to the corporate governance literature.

In Caremark and ESG, Perfect Together: A Practical Approach to Implementing an Integrated, Efficient, and Effective Caremark EESG Strategy, Leo Strine and co-authors frame a board’s duty of oversight for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in light of the common-law duties articulated under Caremark. The landmark Caremark decision articulated that corporations and their directors have a duty to implement and monitor compliance programs to ensure that the company honors its legal obligations.

This Comment is based on an edited transcription of Chandra Taylor-Sawyer’s remarks at the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review conference. See 2021-2022 Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review Conference, available at https://www.eli.org/ environmental-law-policy-annual-review/2021-2022-ELPAR-conference.

Turning Participation Into Power: A Water Justice Case Study presents a rich, conceptual framework with the Constituent Empowerment Model (CE Model) that mirrors the foundational work of Dr. Robert Bullard’s Environmental Justice Framework in its very community-centered perspective. The article also integrates the Jemez Principles as a practical approach to community oversight and accountability. Using Baltimore as a case study added much value to the topic, as the state of Maryland is known for more progressive legislation regarding environment; however, Prof.

This Article offers a revamped model of participatory governance—the Constituent Empowerment Model (CE Model)—which affirmatively shifts power to the voices of marginalized constituents so that they can influence governmental policy. To illustrate how a CE system might be constructed, the Article examines a model recently adopted in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, that is designed to shift the balance of power between the water utility and its customers.

In Environmental Citizen Suits and the Inequities of Races to the Top, David E. Adelman and Jori Reilly-Diakun provide a cogent empirical analysis of citizen suits aimed at assessing whether these statutory causes of action are meeting the intent of the U.S. Congress to serve as a layer of protection against lax federal or state enforcement of environmental laws.

This Comment is based on an edited transcription of Howard Learner's remarks at the Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review conference. See 2021-2022 Environmental Law and Policy Annual Review Conference, available at https://www.eli.org/ environmental-law-policy-annual-review/2021-2022-ELPAR-conference.