News Archive
Student Group Petitions Texas to Revise Controverisal Drought Rule
The University of Texas Regulatory Oversight Group (UTROG) has petitioned the Texas Commisison on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to revise a regulation that allows the agency to selectively suspend water rights during droughts. The petition calls for TCEQ to add procedural safeguards, improve conservation requirements, and further limit the circumstances under which the agency can exercise [...]
Energy Center Releases White Paper on PACE in Texas
The Center for Global Energy, International Arbitration and Environmental Law at the University of Texas School of Law has published a white paper that uses a bill now winding through the Texas legislature as a springboard to explore recent trends in property assessed clean energy (PACE). PACE is a mechanism that allows property owners to voluntarily subject [...]
OSHA Admits Program Flaws, in Response to Student Petition
In March, as part of a practial seminar in environmental litigation, University of Texas School of Law students petitioned the Ooccupational Health and Safety Administration to make changes to a program intended to reward high-performing workplaces and to encourage greater voluntary safety measures. Working under the name University of Texas Regulatory Oversight Group (UTROG), the students [...]
David Spence WSJ Editorial: States Should Regulate Fracking
Professor David Spence has published a point-counterpoint editorial in the Wall Street Journal on federalism and fracking with Harvard Law School professor Jody Freeman. Spence writes: “States are better equipped than the federal government to regulate most of those risks. Why? Because both the benefits and the costs of fracking fall mostly on states and [...]
In News Article, Jeff Civins Discusses Federal Fracking Legislation
Jeff Civins, a parter in the Austin office of Haynes and Boone and an Energy Center advisory board member, expressed skepticism about proposed federal hydraulic fracturing regulation in an April 12 SNL Financial article. “You shouldn’t regulate unless there’s a need,” Civins cautioned. “Before we spend a lot of time legislating, we ought to take a [...]
EPA Regional Counsel Speaks with Students
Suzanne Murray, the regional counsel for EPA Region 6 and a member of the Energy Center’s advisory board, met with students August 11 to discuss issues the agency is facing and the role of its attorneys in addressing them. To hear her talk, please click here.
Students Comment on Alaska Fracking Regulations
The University of Texas Regulatory Oversight Group (UTROG) submitted comments today on disclosure provisions of hydraulic fracturing regulations proposed by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) UTROG consists of students who are participating in a law school class in environmental regulation and are overseen by two professors. In preparing the comments, the students reviewed [...]
Energy Center Publishes Houston Chronicle Op-Ed on Linking Infrastructure Funding to Conservation
Energy Center executive director Melinda Taylor and research fellow Jeremy Brown have publisehd an opinion piece in the Houston Chronicle encouraging the Texas legislature to amend a water infrastructure bill tHB 4 Houston Chronicle Op-Edo connect financing to conservation. The bill – H.B. 4 - was approved in the Texas House last week by an impressive [...]
UT Law Squad Competes in ’13 Vis Moot
The premiere moot court focused on international law issues – the William C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot – has begun its annual in Vienna, with the team from the University of Texas School of Law considered to be a particularly strong contender. The purpose of the moot is to foster the study of [...]
Course in Environmental Regulation Debuts New Public Interest Arm, UTROG
Over the last two years, the University of Texas School of Law has been offering an innovative course that requires students to write petitions, comments, and other regulatory products in lieu of seminar papers. The students (called collectively the University of Texas Regulatory Oversight Group, or UTROG) focus on particularly complicated environmental problems for which [...]
