New Member Spotlight: Green Energy Institute

Our newest member organization, Lewis & Clark Law School’s Green Energy Institute, is doing great work that aligns well with the ZERO Coalition’s mission and goals. Below, we hear from Carra Sahler for more specifics about their work.

GEI is a grant-funded climate and energy policy institute within Lewis & Clark Law School’s #1-ranked Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law program. Created in 2013, GEI’s mission is to develop equitable, effective strategies to prevent catastrophic climate change by furthering the just transition to a sustainable, carbon-free energy grid. Our staff includes a law professor and attorneys with expertise in energy, climate change, and environmental law.

“GEI’s mission is to develop equitable, effective strategies to prevent catastrophic climate change by furthering the just transition to a sustainable, carbon-free energy grid. Our staff includes a law professor and attorneys with expertise in energy, climate change, and environmental law.”

GEI is proud of our track record of informing effective policy design in Oregon. We provide expert legal and policy guidance to state and local policymakers, regulators, advocates, and community stakeholders. We also produce comprehensive policy analyses that help inform the design and implementation of effective, legally viable policies in jurisdictions across the state and across the nation. An example of one recent accomplishment includes our participation in the rule-making advisory committee (RAC) for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Climate Protection Program,

which aims to cap and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from transportation fuels and direct-use natural gas in Oregon. GEI’s input and recommendations throughout the 18-month rule-making process contributed to the development of proposed rules that will require steep emissions reductions from sectors responsible for approximately 50% of the state’s GHG emissions. GEI also successfully recommended that the rules mitigate equity risks by including a mechanism for regulated entities to invest funds to reduce emissions and install zero-emissions technologies in environmental justice communities.

GEI is deeply engaged with existing state agency initiatives to quicken the pace at which building decarbonizat-ion moves.

For example, if done right, the DEQ's Climate Protection Program and the Oregon PUC's Natural Gas Fact-Finding proceeding–in which the cost of a decarbonized natural gas sector is being critically analyzed–may facilitate a change in direction away from fossil gas and toward electrification, particularly in buildings. With HB 2021, Oregon's 100% Clean Energy for All legislation, GEI is particularly focused on developing and implementing strategies to quickly displace existing fossil fuels with electrification.

Amy Schlusser, Staff Attorney

Melissa Powers, Founder & Director

Carra Sahler, Staff Attorney

Our founder and director, Melissa Powers, is a Jeffrey Bain Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School. Melissa teaches climate change law, electricity regulation, renewable energy law, the Clean Air Act, and administrative law. She is also a prolific author. Melissa’s recent publications include the following books: Climate Change and the Law, Principles of Environmental Law, and Beyond Zero-Sum Environmentalism; and articles and book chapters: Natural Gas Lock-in, 69 Kansas L. Rev. 889 (2021); They Win, We Lose: The Consequences of the Trump Administration’s Zero-Sum Climate and Energy Politics, in Beyond Zero-Sum Environmentalism (2019); Strategies to Quickly Reduce Black Carbon Emissions, in Legal Pathways To Deep Decarbonization (2019). She received her JD, magna cum laude, from Lewis & Clark Law School and her BA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Amelia (Amy) Schlusser is a GEI staff attorney and lead researcher. She analyzes legal and regulatory constraints to decarbonizing the energy system and identifies strategies to help facilitate a clean energy transition in the United States. Amy was recently appointed to serve on the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission, the policy and rulemaking board for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Amy has led our work on Governor Brown's Executive Order 20-04 before the DEQ and developed several innovative proposals to increase ambition and support equity within the Climate Protection Program. Amy regularly provides guidance and information to state and local policymakers, public interest organizations, and businesses committed to decarbonization. Amy has authored many publications and analyses on energy and climate law and policy issues, including GEI’s comprehensive reports on Oregon climate policy, utility integrated resource planning, grid reliability and resiliency, solar energy policy, emissions regulation under the Clean Air Act, and state and local strategies to reduce diesel emissions. Amy received her J.D. cum laude and her LL.M. summa cum laude from Lewis & Clark Law School and holds a certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law.

Carra Sahler is a GEI staff attorney and the newest member of GEI's team. Carra has led our work on Governor Brown's Executive Order 20-04 before the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, focusing on utility planning, transportation electrification, and, most recently, the Natural Gas Fact Finding proceeding to evaluate the costs and risks associated with continued expansion of the fossil gas system. Carra received her J.D. magna cum laude from Lewis & Clark Law School where she focused her studies in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. Carra can be reached at sahler@lclark.edu

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