Laura Kerr Quoted on Environmental Obstacles to Building Clean Energy Projects on Fossil Fuel Sites

In a new article, Law360 quoted partner Laura Kerr on the environmental obstacles facing developers interested in repurposing fossil fuel sites to build clean energy sites.

Tax benefits in the Inflation Reduction Act, coupled with the availability of existing interconnection points to hook a project to the grid, have made building clean energy projects in areas previously used for siting aging fossil fuel plants an alluring prospect to developers.

But such conversions come with roadblocks—the possibility of environmental liability and the need for remediation, suitability of a site for a new clean energy project concerning area or geologic stability, and potential local opposition, among others.

Environmental attorney Kerr and others note that developers will need to consider ways to address the challenge of environmental liability on a site-by-site basis.

“You use a combination of relying on defenses that are available to you under federal and state law and entering into cleanup programs that may have federal or state oversight,” Kerr said. “Environmental insurance products can be another tool in the toolbox.”

Read the full article here. (Subscription required.)