Summary: Dorsey partner David Jacobson identifies the “escalating demand for more sources of renewable energy” for the King County Bar Association’s Bar Bulletin, focusing specifically on consumer-owned rural electrical cooperatives. Electrical co-ops serve 40 million customers in 47 U.S. states. Many of these states have experienced environmental, political, and legal changes while developing and sustaining renewable energy sources.
Jacobson delineates not only the opportunities presented by the co-ops but also the challenges they face (namely financing). In the push to help electrical co-ops flourish economically, Jacobson touches on the roles Congress' Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPA), Production Tax Credits (PTC), and Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREB) have in sustaining this important source of reneweable energy.
"Co-ops Pushing Renewable Energy" was published by the King County Bar Association Bar Bulletin, May 8, 2008. Republished with permission.