Testimony on behalf of Residents of Brockton, West Bridgewater, and East Bridgewater, Massachusetts

Client: Alternatives for Community and Environment

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

June 2017

On behalf of Alternatives for Community and Environment, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD submitted testimony to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution in the matter of Brockton Power's application to construct a new 350 megawatt natural gas power plant. Dr. Stanton's testimony demonstrated that the greenhouse gas emission limits set out in Brockton Power's revised application are not consistent with Massachusetts' compliance with its climate law, called the Global Warming Solutions Act.

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MPCA Consumption-Based Emissions

Client: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

June 2017

On behalf of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD assisted MPCA with its adaptation of the Consumption-Based Emissions Inventory (CBEI) for Minnesota. CBEI estimates the emission impacts of a state, county or city from the point of view of what is consumed in that jurisdiction (in contract to production-based or geographic-based inventories). While at the Stockholm Environment Institute, Dr. Stanton led the team that designed CBEI and implemented it for Oregon, King County (Washington), San Francisco, and California.

Review of Indiana Utilities' Integrated Resource Plans

Client: Earthjustice

Authors: Liz Stanton, PhD and Anna Sommer

March 2017

On behalf of Earthjustice, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD, and Anna Sommer of Sommer Energy, LLC published three recent evaluations of Indiana electric utilities’ Integrated Resource Plans (IRP), which are filed with the Utility Commission to demonstrate that utilities’ decisions to retire and/or add electric generation resources are in the public interest. While technical, these evaluations provide an important benefit to utility customers and the Indiana public more widely.Third-party review of these and other utilities filings is critical to vet for errors, uncover questionable or self-serving assumptions, and make hidden value-judgments transparent. Important issues found in reviewing Indiana utilities’ 2016 Plans include biases both against retiring coal generation and against adopting new efficiency measures and renewable resources.

This testimony is part of a joint AEC and Anna Sommers LLC series of comments on Indiana utility Integrated Resource Plans (IRPs) on behalf of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana and Earthjustice.

Report on Indianapolis Power & Light Company (IPL) 2016 IRP

Report on Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) 2016 IRP

Report on Vectren Energy Delivery of Indiana (Vectren) 2016 IRP

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Triple Crisis Blog Posting: Casting Away Despair

April 2017

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD is transcribed in this blog post from when she gave a talk on climate change, politics and hope at a Brookline (MA) Climate Week event on April 1, 2017.

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Testimony on NIPSCO's Petition for CPCN Approval of Recovery for Environmental Compliance Measures

Client: Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

April 2017

On behalf of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD provided testimony before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commissions in Cause No.44872 regarding Northern Indiana Public Service Company's (NIPSCO) request to recover environmental compliance costs related to coal combustion residuals (coal ash).

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Analysis of the Economic Impacts of the Mariner East Pipeline

Client: Clean Air Council

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

April 2017

Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD provided Clean Air Council with analysis regarding the economic need for new supplies of gas liquids carried by the Mariner East 1 & 2 pipelines. Sunoco Pipeline claims that the Pennsylvania public will benefit from the pipelines. Dr. Stanton assisted Clean Air Council in reviewing this claim including present and expected future supply and demand of gas liquids in Pennsylvania and, given this information, the extent to which new supplies of gas liquids can reasonably be expected to benefit the Pennsylvania public.

Testimony on Duke Energy Indiana's Demand Side Management and Energy Efficiency Programs for 2016-2018

Client: Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

March 2017

On behalf of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD submitted testimony in Cause No. 43955 DSM-4. Dr. Stanton provided an expert opinion as to whether or not Duke Energy Indiana’s 2017-2019 energy efficiency plan is reasonable under Indiana Senate Enrolled Act 412 (2015). She concluded that DEI’s plan should be rejected as unreasonable until all recommendations given in her testimony are incorporated into Duke's plan.

This testimony is part of a joint AEC and Anna Sommers LLC series of reviews of Indiana Demand Side Management plans on behalf of Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana.

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Testimony on Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's Proposed Regulations on the Global Warming Solutions Act

Client: Conservation Law Foundation

Author: Liz Stanton, PhD

February 2017

On behalf of Conservation Law Foundation, Clinic Director and Senior Economist Liz Stanton, PhD submitted testimony before the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s (MassDEP) regarding new and revised regulations 310 CMR 7.2, 310 CMR 7.73, 310 CMR 7.74, 310 CMR 7.75, 310 CMR 60.05 and 310 CMR 60.06 and their relation to the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA). Dr. Stanton's testimony addressed the characteristics of and standards for a satisfactory framework for accounting for expected greenhouse gas emissions under GWSA and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts May 17, 2016 ruling on GWSA requirements, and presented results of a third-party review of MassDEP’s proposed methodology for greenhouse gas accounting in this matter as presented in their proposed new and amended regulations and related materials.

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