Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Abstract
A monumental change quietly is unfolding in the American West. For decades, the region has lagged the rest of the nation in coordinating electricity operations. Multiple efforts to change this stalled or never got off the ground. Now, everything is different. In the face of climate uncertainty and deepening concern that the region is unprepared for its energy future, stakeholders—government, industry, interest groups—are posturing to create formal electricity markets that will transform the region’s infrastructure, resilience, and economy for the remainder of this century.
Two paths are on the table. In one, much if not all the West will join with California to create a massive energy market that promises to reap significant economic, environmental, and reliability benefits. In the other, the West will fragment, and California will be pushed to the side, largely islanded from an energy perspective.
This article argues that California must take action to keep the first option open. Specifically, California should adopt legislation that allows one or more of its agencies to approve regionalization of the state’s current electricity market operator, the California ISO. Our interviews with dozens of stakeholders underscore that if this does not happen, a fractured Western electricity grid is virtually inevitable.
Recommended Citation
Lincoln Davies & Stephanie Lenhart, California, an Island?, 77 STAN. L. REV. ONLINE 17 (2024).
Included in
Energy and Utilities Law Commons, Environmental Law Commons, Natural Resources Law Commons