Two Penn legal experts discuss the strategy behind EPA’s rescission of the Endangerment Finding and the court challenges ahead.

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On February 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formally rescinded the endangerment finding, the 2009 determination that established the legal basis for federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. For 16 years, that finding has underpinned EPA climate policy, reflecting the agency’s conclusion that greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health and that, under the law, it was required to regulate them.

The move represents a major shift in federal climate policy. But agencies cannot simply reverse themselves without making a legal case that can withstand court review. Cary Coglianese of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and Shelley Welton of the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law examine the legal rationale behind the rescission and how it draws on recent Supreme Court decisions that have narrowed federal agency authority.

Rather than disputing climate science, the EPA’s argument rests on a more limited reading of its powers under the Clean Air Act. Welton and Coglianese explain how that argument fits within the Court’s evolving approach to administrative power, and what it could mean for the future of federal climate regulation.

Cary Coglianese is Director of the Penn Program on Regulation at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Shelley Welton is Presidential Distinguished Professor of Law and Energy Policy with the Kleinman Center and Penn Carey Law.

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Policy Design Issues for Border Carbon Adjustments https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/policy-design-issues-for-border-carbon-adjustments/

Boomtowns in the Battery Belt: Risks and Opportunities of Clean Energy Investments in Small Towns of America https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/boomtowns-in-the-battery-belt-risks-and-opportunities-of-clean-energy-investments-in-small-towns-of-america/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oil sanctions have given rise to dark shipping, reshaping global energy flows and producing far-reaching economic consequences.

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In recent years, oil export sanctions have become a central tool of U.S. foreign policy, targeting major producers including Russia, Iran, and, until very recently Venezuela. These sanctions were designed to limit oil revenues, apply economic pressure, and create geopolitical leverage. But their real-world effects have proven more complex than many anticipated.

A growing “shadow fleet” of oil tankers now operates alongside the conventional global shipping system. These vessels, often older and operating with opaque ownership and shifting registrations, transport sanctioned oil through networks designed to evade restrictions. Despite extensive sanctions, large volumes of this oil continue to reach global markets.

In this episode, Penn economist Jesús Fernández-Villaverde examines how oil sanctions have contributed to the rise of dark shipping, and have become a lever in global great power competition. Drawing on new research funded by the Kleinman Center, he explains how shadow oil flows reshape global markets, influence prices and industrial activity, and generate unintended outcomes.

Jesús Fernández-Villaverde is a professor of economics and Director of the Penn Initiative for the Study of Markets at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Boomtowns in the Battery Belt: Risks and Opportunities of Clean Energy Investments in Smalls Towns of America https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/boomtowns-in-the-battery-belt-risks-and-opportunities-of-clean-energy-investments-in-small-towns-of-america/

Energy System Planning: New Models for Accelerating Decarbonization https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/energy-system-planning-new-models-for-accelerating-decarbonization/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The nation’s largest electric grid operator outlines its plan to manage rapid growth in data center electricity demand.

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PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest grid operator, is preparing to file a wide-ranging proposal with federal regulators aimed at managing the rapid growth of electricity demand, including AI-driven data centers. The plan stands out as one of the first comprehensive efforts by a grid operator to address surging load from new technologies while maintaining system reliability and limiting cost impacts on consumers.

The proposal arrives at a moment when the electric grid is under growing stress. Tightening power supply-demand balances, high-profile grid failures, and a series of narrowly avoided outages have raised concerns about whether the power system can continue to meet demand reliably. At the same time, those pressures have increasingly shown up in electricity prices, which have increased sharply in many areas.

PJM’s proposal tries to answer a question grid operators across the country are now facing: how to say “yes” to large new loads without turning reliability into a gamble or costs into an afterthought. The plan lays out a structured approach to integrating data centers and other large loads, with an eye toward keeping commitments realistic and aligning responsibility with impact.

Abe Silverman is an assistant research scholar with the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University and a former general counsel to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. Tom Rutigliano is senior advocate for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where his work focuses on PJM. Both participated in the policy discussions surrounding PJM’s proposal, and provide their perspective on its potential impacts on grid reliability, consumers, and the potential rate of datacenter growth.

Abe Silverman is an assistant research scholar with the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute at Johns Hopkins University and a former general counsel to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

Tom Rutigliano is senior advocate for climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where his work focuses on PJM.

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Communities Are at Risk If We Don’t Slow the Roll on Data Center Development https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/blog/communities-are-at-risk-if-we-dont-slow-the-roll-on-data-center-development/

Energy System Planning: New Models for Accelerating Decarbonization https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/energy-system-planning-new-models-for-accelerating-decarbonization/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.