The Energy Bar Association Conference and Annual meeting is EBA's premier energy law and public policy conference. Join hundreds of energy industry attorneys, regulators from the the Department of Energy and other agencies, in-house energy attorneys, consultants and others. The conference offers two days of thought-provoking CLE programming and multiple networking opportunities. See the full conference agenda below.
Special Event
Washington Nationals vs. LA Dodgers
Kick off the conference with other conference attendees and watch the Nationals take on the LA Dodgers. This is a separately ticketed event and can be reserved at registration.
Reserve a ticket in our Champions Club seats for the Wednesday, April 24 Game at 6:45 PM
Thursday, April 25
9:00 AM - 10:30 AM: Honorable Kevin J. McIntyre - General Session: The Here and Now: Lessons from FERC Chairs of the Past
FERC’s responsibilities include regulating energy sales and transmission lines as well as interstate pipelines and hydropower. Among other challenges, FERC’s recent major decisions have been focused on siting, increasing reliability, and resolving issues surrounding the availability of increased renewable energy on the grid. Former FERC Chairs will share their experiences in addressing similar fundamental issues, and offer their thoughts on how FERC can address today’s challenges.
The Honorable Norman C. Bay
Partner
Wilkie Farr & Gallagher
The Honorable Neil Chatterjee
Senior Advisor, Global Regulatory
Hogan Lovells US LLP
The Honorable James P. Danly
Partner, Energy Regulatory
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
The Honorable Richard Glick
Former Chair
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
The Honorable Cheryl A. LaFleur
Board Chair
ISO New England Inc.
Susan E. Bruce (Moderator)
Member
McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM: Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent 1A: Effects of Technology Shifts on Power Markets, System Operations, and Customers
Several significant technological changes are occurring across the energy landscape. With increasing renewable energy on the supply side; and the adoption of electric vehicles, various types of energy storage, and growing interest in the production and use of zero or low-emission-based fuels and hydrogen on the demand side; the wholesale electricity markets will need to evolve with these changes. To manage such markets, grid operators and utilities are using advanced monitoring and data analytics to gain situational awareness to ensure reliability and resilience. In this session, the attendees will learn about (a) the policy and economic drivers of the technology changes, (b) the pace of those changes in various regions of the U.S., (c) the implications of these changes on the electricity markets and operations for grid operators, utilities, and customers.
Bryn Baker
Senior Director, Market and Policy Innovation
Clean Energy Buyers Association
Jessica Lucas
Executive Director of System Operations
Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Todd Schatzki, PhD
Principal
Analysis Group
Raja Sundararajan
Executive Vice President, Strategy and Customer Solutions
Alliant Energy Corporation
Michael L. Kessler
(Moderator)
Assistant General Counsel
Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Concurrent 1B: Retail 101 – Recent Developments in Competitive Energy Marketing
For over a quarter century, many state public utility commissions and legislatures have established retail customer choice programs for commercial, industrial and residential consumers of natural gas and electricity. With growing interest in providing renewable energy and related services both on the part of competitive suppliers and incumbent utilities, our panel of experts looks at the current state of the competitive marketplace.
Frank Caliva III
President
PR Quinlan Associates
also, National Spokesperson
Retail Energy Supply Association
Kimberly A. Curry
Associate General Counsel
Pepco Holdings LLC
The Honorable Michael T. Richard
Commissioner
Maryland Public Service Commission
Juliet Shavit
President and CEO
SmartMark Communications LLC
Randall S. Rich (Moderator)
Partner
Pierce Atwood LLP
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM: Luncheon & Remarks by Rishi Garg, Director for Clean Energy I Regulatory Innovation Lead, White House Counsel on Environmental Quality
Rishi Garg
White House Council on Environmental Quality
1:45 PM - 3:00 PM: Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent 2A: Commercial and Regulatory Considerations in Public Utility Transactions
Public utility acquisitions, divestitures, and mergers have been under increased scrutiny from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. In the last 18 months the Commission has denied an application involving the sale of large public utilities in the Midwest, issued deficiency letters and a tolling order in a proceeding with respect to the merger other large utilities; issued orders holding that investors with the ability to appoint a non-independent board member to a public utility will be deemed an affiliate of the utility, and issued a Notice of Inquiry regarding whether the Commission should revise its policy on blanket authorizations for investment companies under Section 203(a)(2) of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”). This panel will discuss the Commission’s role in reviewing public utility acquisitions, divestitures, and mergers under Section 203 of the FPA, the Commission’s points of emphasis in recent orders, and commercial and regulatory considerations that stakeholders and counsel should take into account when structuring public utility transactions. Attendees will learn the scope of Section 203 of the FPA, the Commission’s standard of review, and the impact certain transactional structures may have in obtaining authorization from the Commission under Section 203 of the FPA and exposing affiliates to the Commission’s jurisdiction.
George Chip Cannon
Partner
Allen and Overy
Margaret Claybour
Partner
Rock Creek Energy Group
J. Daniel Skees
Partner
Morgan Lewis
Mark C. Williams (Moderator)
Partner
Mayer Brown LLP
Concurrent 2B: FERC Rate Cases: Litigate or Settle
The panel will examine the legal and technical perspectives from pipelines, shippers, and FERC Trial Staff on settling versus fully litigating a rate case.
George W. Flugrad
Senior Counsel
BHE GT&S LLC
Lamiya N. Rahman
Associate
Blank Rome
Kenneth A. Sosnick
Managing Director
Black & Veatch Global Advisory
Philip W. Mone (Moderator)
Partner
McCarter & English LLP
Featured Meet Up
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM: Young Lawyers Council "A Day in the Life"
We invite all members of the EBA Young Lawyers Council to an exciting networking themed event around “A Day in the Life,” where we will highlight what it’s like to be a lawyer working in private practice, government, and other sectors of the energy industry. The event will be kicked off by keynote speaker Judge Kelsey Bagot (Virginia State Corporation Commission), and “A Day in the Life” sample schedules from attorneys in various positions will be distributed. We hope that you will join us for this exciting opportunity to meet fellow early-career attorneys and discuss the diversity of career pathways available in the energy world.
Featured Meet Up
3:00 PM - 3:45 PM: In-House Counsel Meet Up
We invite all in house counsel professionals in attendance to join members of our In-House Counsel Coalition for the opportunity to build connections with like-minded energy professionals.
3:45 PM - 5:00 PM: Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent 3A: The Data Challenge
Consumers may seldom consider the infrastructure needed to support streaming, internet, email, and gaming. Data centers, complete with a huge amount of servers run 24/7 and enough air conditioning to dissipate the heat such equipment generates, provide a unique and relatively new challenge to the grid. Some utilities now offer unique data center products and data center load has become part of RTO transmission planning. A second component of planning is where to locate these facilities. In light of the nature of the use, development of data centers on brownfields offer a unique set of advantages, including available infrastructure which can position such development as a “best use”. This panel will focus on challenges and perspectives related to development of Data Centers.
The Honorable Ann McCabe
Commissioner
Illinois Commerce Commission
Clay Rikard
Vice President, System Planning
Southern Company Services
David E. Schleicher
President and CEO
The Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative
Jason M. Stanek
Executive Director - Governmental Services
PJM Interconnection
Gerald L. Pouncey, Jr. (Moderator)
Chairman
Morris, Manning & Martin LLP
Concurrent 3B: Understanding the Pillars—The Implications of Treasury’s 45V Pillars for the U.S. Hydrogen Industry
Section 45V was part of the Inflation Reduction Act and provides an incentive for the production of clean hydrogen. In December of 2023, Treasury released proposed guidance adopting what amounts to a “book and claim” system to verify clean hydrogen production. However, the underlying electric energy must be sourced from renewables that are “incremental,” “deliverable,” and beginning in 2028 “temporal matched.” The panel will review the implications of the pillars for the electrical transmission system and discuss opportunities for refinement in the context of Treasury’s ongoing rulemaking.
Janet M. Anderson
Senior Technology and Policy Advisor
Van Ness Feldman LLP
Rachel Fakhry
Policy Director, Emerging Technologies, Climate & Energy
Natural Resource Defense Council
Vir Chahal
Managing Director
Berkley Research Group LLC
Ross P. Keogh (Moderator)
Shareholder
Parsons Behle and Latimer
Special Event
Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association Gala
After the first day of conference events, please join us at the Charitable Foundation of the Energy Bar Association’s 2024 Fundraising Gala on Thursday evening from 5:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (ET)
The separately ticketed charitable event will begin with a cocktail reception, followed by a seated dinner with presentations by representatives from CFEBA.
Friday, April 26
9:00 AM - 9:30 AM: Keynote Remarks by The Honorable Mark C. Christie, FERC Commissioner
9:30 AM - 11:00 AM: General Session 2 - The State of LNG Markets and the Future of U.S. Gas and Export Facility Development
The last couple years saw a tightening of the global LNG market due to increased demand from Europe to offset the decline in Russian pipeline imports. The U.S. Energy Information Administration anticipates that greater output from existing facilities in the United States will help balance and ease global market demand in the next year. However, many of the European utilities are not subscribed to long-term contracts which creates market uncertainty. Demand in east Asia also presents uncertainty because China—which was typically actively in the LNG spot market—has actually increased pipeline imports from Russia. In addition, the Biden Administration’s decision in January to pause export authorizations to nations without free-trade agreements created further uncertainty in the market for both project developers and potential offtakers. This panel will analyze the state of the global LNG market with an eye towards the 2024-2025 winter season, the current status of LNG export capacity in the United States including export facilities that have recently come online or are expected to be commercially operational in the near future, and the market and regulatory risks facing new or proposed projects. The regulatory risk discussion will touch on the authorization process and key issues at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy.
J. Patrick Nevins
Partner
Latham & Watkins
Ruth M. Porter
Shareholder
Wright & Talisman PC
Chrisopher A. Treanor
Partner
Akin
David L. Wochner
Partner
K&L Gates LLP
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM: Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent 4A: The Matter of RTO Governance
The governance of RTOs matters. It matters to the RTO members who provide transmission services; it matters to their customers who buy transmission services; it matters to the land and ecosystems that RTOs use and to the people that depend upon electrical systems for reliable power. And RTO governance matters to those seeking a fair price signal for today’s and tomorrow’s electric power, including emerging sources of renewable generation, and it matters to those considering alternatives, such as end-use efficiency. Borrowing a page out of the Special Edition of the Energy Law Journal on RTO Governance, this panel will feature a lively discussion outside the Ivory Tower on what RTO Governance processes mean to stakeholders reliability, prices, processes and fuel mixes.
Sarah Bresolin
Chair
New England Power Pool (NEPOOL)
Asim Z. Haque
Senior Vice President - Governmental & Member
PJM Interconnection
Christopher D. Supino
Managing Senior Corporate Counsel
Midcontinent Independent System Operator
Paul Suskie
Executive Vice President & General Counsel
Southwest Power Pool Inc.
Seth Blumsack, PhD
(Moderator)
Professor of Energy Policy and Economics; Director, Center for Energy Law and Policy
Penn State
Concurrent 4B: Jurassic Spark: Real Estate Adventures in Renewable Energy
Development of a generation station is a multi-year process that requires land control, interconnection, permitting, regulatory and offtake arrangements to come together before a project is able to commences construction and obtain debt and equity financing. This panel will discuss common strategies and challenges that arise during the development process through construction from the real estate perspective.
Gemma R. Cashman
Partner
Day Pitney LLP
Erika N. Kuver
Vice President and Senior Counsel
Fidelity National Title Insurance Company
Gina Wolf
Senior Vice President of Strategy and Project Development
Spearmint Energy
Daniel Kach (Co-Moderator)
Partner
Litwin Kach LLP
Edwin Noland (Co-Moderator)
Assistant General Counsel
Invenergy LLC
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM: Lunch and EBA Annual Meeting, Keynote Remarks by The Honorable David A. Wright, Commissioner, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM: Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent 5A: Accelerating Transmission Expansion in 2024 and Beyond: Addressing Planning and Permitting
While there is general agreement that transmission expansion – in existing rights-of-way, regionally, and inter-regionally – is a necessary predicate to a successful and reliable clean energy future, planning and permitting challenges can significantly slow down these efforts. This panel will explore innovative ways that the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and other stakeholders are proposing to facilitate planning and expedite permitting. Panelists will address topics including DOE’s new approach to National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor designations, DOE’s efforts to serve as the lead federal agency for transmission permitting under Federal Power Act section 216(h), FERC’s transmission planning proposal, the role of partnerships in building new transmission, the role of advanced transmission technologies, and securing community support for new lines, among other topics.
Amanda R. Conner
Assistant General Counsel
American Electric Power
Rob Gramlich
Founder and President
Grid Strategies LLC
Karin Herzfeld
Senior Transmission Counsel to Chairman Willie L. Phillips
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Whitney Muse
Senior Policy Advisor
White House Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation
Victoria Lauterbach (Moderator)
Partner
Foley Hoag LLP
Concurrent 5B: Ethics and Wellness: Do it Solo (or Small)
Join this panel of experienced legal professionals as they discuss the ins and outs of law firm formation, including reasons to go solo or small; risks and rewards; legal and ethical obligations of small and solo practices; how to maintain health, wealth, and life balance as a small or solo practice; and much, much more. Ethics and Wellness CLE credits will be sought for this panel.
Carolyn Elefant
Founder and Owner
Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant
John Paul Floom
Managing Member
Floom Energy Law PLLC
Rosa Twyman
Founder & Legal Services
Regulatory Law Chambers
Regina Speed-Bost
(Moderator)
Founder & Managing Partner
SB Law PLLC
3:45 PM - 5:15 PM: Is Deference Dead? Executive Branch Power Post-Chevron
This panel will tap the expertise of the current legal leadership of FERC, the Department of Energy, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the Environmental Protection Agency, to explore the possible outcomes from the Supreme Court's reconsideration of Chevron doctrine, including what a possible majority opinion might do and how the Court's decision will affect the work of the energy and environmental regulators like FERC. With oral arguments concluded in Loper Bright Enterprises and Relentless and an opinion expected to issue this summer, this closing session panel is best positioned to discuss the impacts of the Court's decision, in light of their collective experience and leadership in defending agency action in federal court.
Matthew R. Christiansen
General Counsel
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Andrew Mergen
Emmett Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law in Environmental Law Faculty Director, Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
Harvard Law School
Victoria Nourse
Ralph V. Whitworth Professor in Law
Georgetown Law
Samuel T. Walsh
General Counsel
U.S. Department of Energy
Anand Viswanathan (Moderator)
Special Counsel
Jenner & Block
5:15 PM - 6:15 PM: Closing Reception
Join fellow attendees for a farewell cocktail reception! Mix and mingle before you head back home or to the airport. We hope to see you there!
Thank you to our Closing Reception Sponsor:
CLE:
This program is eligible for 10.75 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states, and 12.75 hours of CLE credit, in 50-minute states. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.
To Receive CLE Credit:
If you have met the participation requirements, you will receive a personalized CLE affidavit from mcle-eba@americanbar.org for the program at which you attended at least one session to completion. Please check your spam or junk folders as these emails often end up there. Please note you will fill out one affidavit for the full event. Once you complete the affidavit, you will be able to download your certificate(s) of attendance and they will be emailed to you as well from mcle-eba@americanbar.org
Scholarships:
EBA offers eligible student, government, and academic members discounts on the rates for most EBA programs which carry CLE credits, including EBA's Annual and Mid-Year Meetings. EBA will, on a case-by-case basis, consider requests from members to attend EBA programs at a discounted rate. Discount requests must be made to EBA's office at least fifteen days prior to the close of regular registration for the program in question. Requests will be considered by EBA if timely and complete. Discount requests must demonstrate a substantial financial hardship. Please submit your requests to jhannan@eba-net.org.