Dr. Benjamin K. Sovacool *
Alex Gilbert **
Existing and planned reliance on thermoelectric power plants—facilities that burn oil, natural gas, coal, and biomass, or fission atoms—depends too heavily on assumptions of widespread, abundant water resources. As the Union of Concerned Scientists has estimated, power plants in the United States take in almost triple the average amount of water flowing over Niagara Falls each minute to meet their cooling needs.[1] Or, put another way, on a typical day more than 500 billion liters of fresh water travel through power plants in the United States—more than twice the amount flowing through the entire Nile River.[2] Yet water is a critical constraint often overlooked in electricity and energy decisions. When considered, it challenges us to think more broadly about integrated resource planning, reliability challenges, and resource selection.
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* Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School and Center for Energy Technologies, School of Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University. Ph.D., 2006, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; M.A., 2003, Wayne State University; B.A., 2001, John Carroll University.
** Energy Analyst, Haynes and Boone, LLP, and former research fellow at Vermont Law School’s Institute for Energy and the Environment. M.A. in Energy Regulation and Law, 2013, Vermont Law School; B.A., Lake Forest College, Environmental Studies and International Relations, summa cum laude.
[1]. Kristen Averyt et al., Union of Concerned Scientists, Freshwater use by U.S. Power Plants: Electricity’s Thirst for a Precious Resource 1 (2011) [hereinafter Freshwater Use], available at http://www.synapse-energy.com/Downloads/Synapse Report.2011-11.UCS.Freshwater-Use-by-US-Power-Plants.10-028.pdf.
[2]. The Coming Clash Between Water and Energy, IEEE Spectrum (May 28, 2010, 12:25 PM), http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/the-coming-clash-between-water-and-energy.
Donald T. Hornstein *
As the outstanding contributions to this symposium demonstrate, the on-the-ground connections between water and energy are pervasive, multidimensional, and sobering. And, at the legal nexus between water and energy, the symposium’s contributors generally hint at some mix of land-use controls, common-law liability, or regulation to help mediate the challenges. Yet precisely because the challenges are so sobering, perhaps an even broader range of social institutions and solutions ought to be considered. In this essay, I offer some observations of the role that insurance may play at the energy-water nexus.
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* Aubrey L. Brooks Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law. Even though my experience with insurance and weather comes partly from my role as an appointed public member of the North Carolina Wind Pool, a $400 million insurance facility, the views expressed in this essay do not in any way reflect the views of the Wind Pool or even my own views when operating as a member of the Wind Pool’s Board of Directors.
Andrea West Wortzel *
Energy and water are integrally linked. Water is necessary to produce and deliver energy,[1] both for cooling and for pollution control. For certain energy sources, such as natural gas and coal, water is needed in the extraction process. Energy powers water treatment processes and pumps for transporting water to end users. Energy is also needed to treat water after it has been used and to return it to the stream or to another user.
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* Of Counsel; Environmental & Natural Resources Practice Group, Troutman Sanders LLP; Coordinator, Mission H2O; J.D., 1996, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A., 1991, The College of William and Mary. Mission H2O is a stakeholder group focused on regulatory and legislative developments impacting water supply in Virginia.
[1]. See Energy and Industry, Nat’l Geographic, http://environment.nationalgeogra phic.com/environment/freshwater/energy-and-industry/ (last visited Feb. 18, 2014); Energy-Water Nexus Overview, Sandia Nat’l Lab., http://www.sandia.gov/energy-water/nex us_overview.htm (last visited Feb. 18, 2014).
Lauren Maxey
In May 2012, Roanoke Athletic Club in Virginia revoked a family club membership from two dads and their two-year-old son Oliver, after discovering that the two dads were gay and that they did not qualify for club membership. William Trinkle, Juan Granados, and Oliver applied for membership at the athletic club so that they could enjoy the summer by the pool as a family. Trinkle purchased a family membership and club officials approved his application, but soon after the family started using the facilities, the operations director contacted the couple. The director revoked their membership because they did not qualify under the club’s definition of a family. Thus, Trinkle, Granados, and Oliver were denied a family membership simply because of Trinkle’s and Granados’ sexual orientations. In addition, Oliver was denied the access available to children of heterosexual couples. Although the athletic club later changed its definition of a family to allow families like Trinkle, Granados, and Oliver to gain membership, this event highlights one of the many problems gay dads face in Virginia as a result of the current state of Virginia law regarding legal parentage.
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Leah Stiegler *
“No beaches have been closed due to ethanol spills!”[1] An ethanol advocacy group near the United States Capitol shouted these words in 2010. Proponents of ethanol parade an environmentally benign image that plays up ethanol as a “clean fuel” that could never harm water resources, unlike well-publicized oil spills, such as the Exxon Valdez incident.[2] But this is not the case.
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* J.D. Candidate, 2015, University of Richmond School of Law; B.A. and B.S., 2012, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. I am grateful to have this opportunity to publish and would like to thank the entire University of Richmond Law Review staff and editorial board for their work to make it possible. A special thank you to Jonathan Tan and Christopher Bascom for providing guidance and edits throughout my writing process. Finally, I would like to thank my friends, family, and especially my mother, Janet Stiegler, for her inspiration and encouragement to improve my writing.
[1]. Erica Gies, As Ethanol Booms, Critics Warn of Environmental Effect, N.Y. Times (June 24, 2010), http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/business/energy-environment/25iht-r bogeth.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
[2]. See id.
