What Else Is Out There? Legal Career Alternatives, Part IX – Energy and Natural Resources
June 11, 2012 Despite the President and Congress ostrich-like responses to our energy dependence on—to put it mildly—unstable foreign energy sources, there is a lot going on in this arena that promises a bright future for law-related positions in energy and natural resources. Domestic fossil fuel exploration and development is growing, and renewables, while still below the radar, are making an impact. At the same time, the quiet backwater that has been natural resource law, has also been making some noise.
The Dynamic Energy Industry
Energy is one of the most complex industries around. A principal reason for this is the ability to substitute fuels and power sources one for another. Another is price volatility and price dependence on factors that are beyond national or consumer control.
Here are some of the major current energy issues that directly affect legal careers in energy law (not in any particular order of importance):
Prices at the Pump
Gas prices are directly proportional to the number of energy law jobs. This is not just a rough calculation. It is a proven rule that has manifested itself during every gas price surge going back to the 1973 energy crisis when Arab nations turned off the spigot in reaction to Western support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. The resulting dramatic price increases led to the creation of the Department of Energy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission while generating a proliferation of laws and regulations that, in turn, gave rise to new energy law practices in places that had never had them (i.e., anywhere outside of the oil patch – Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and Southern California).
The 1979 energy crisis, when Iran cut off oil supplies to the West in the wake of its revolution, triggered another surge in legal and law-related hiring at federal and state energy regulatory and administrative agencies and in private sector. Conversely, when petroleum prices receded in the 1980s, we witnessed a contraction of firm energy law practices.
In 2008, pump prices surged to $147 a barrel of East Texas Light Crude oil, prompting another hiring binge in both the public and private sectors.
New Fossil Fuel Discoveries
The new technologies that permit deep drilling, horizontal drilling, and hydraulic fracturing of shale have also generated a legal hiring boom among energy lawyers. Drilling in the Barnett, Marcellus and Haynesville Formations for both oil and gas has been very good for energy law aspirants. In addition, the need for Landmen and Contracting Officers to negotiate and administer oil and gas leases and surface and subsurface rights agreements has resulted in numerous law-related jobs for JDs.
Increasing Global Demand
Despite the current economic slowdown, worldwide energy demand is increasing, fueled primarily by the dramatic GDP advances of China, India and Brazil. The International Energy Agency recently reported that China has surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer. Rising demand will make renewable energy alternatives more competitive with oil, gas and coal and provide a strong impetus for energy independence. But getting there will also require legislative action and government incentives. These, in turn, are going to be guaranteed job creators.
Growing Electricity Storage Industry
Electric and hybrid vehicles, and renewable energy, require efficient energy storage systems, which is the key enabling technology under development. Among the factors affecting the future potential of energy systems are the fundamental properties and nature of the storage systems and also the type of materials used. The global electricity storage market was worth $43.5 billion in 2008 and is expected to increase to $61 billion in 2013.
Building a Smart Grid
Our current electric power infrastructure is—like our roads, railroads, bridges, sewer and water systems, and all of the rest of our infrastructure—crumbling, thanks to the inattention of our government over several decades. The Electric Power Research Institute came out with a recent study that said that it would cost the U.S. $476 billion to build a fully functional smart electric power grid. Such a project would save the US somewhere between $1.3 and $2 trillion in energy costs and provide the following benefits:
- Huge electricity cost reductions
- Enhanced reliability
- Improved power quality
- Increased productivity
- Enhanced electricity service
- New grid-related technologies and market structures that create jobs
- More widespread deployment of renewable energy
- Systems that address grid security, now sorely lacking and highly vulnerable
- Self-healing from power disturbance events
- Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response
- Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack
- Accommodating all generation and storage options
- Enabling new products, services, and markets
- Optimizing assets and operating efficiently
The Smart Grid is a “killer app,” revolutionary in scope, somewhat like the Interstate Highway System and the Internet, both of which provided quantum leaps in our quality of life and general prosperity. Oversimplifying, it means two-way digital interactivity between electricity producers and consumers, and a host of accompanying legal questions that will have to be answered.
Should the Smart Grid ever get seriously off the ground, it would be a massive job creator, including attorney and law-related jobs and not only in energy law, but also in practice areas such as real estate law and eminent domain law.
State and Utility Renewable Energy Incentives and Legal Employment
The renewable energy action, such as it is, is mainly in the states. The feds fiddle while the U.S. burns far too much oil and coal, and the toxic legislative atmosphere in Washington keeps the government from addressing our acute energy needs. But state and local governments and utilities are not waiting around. A growing number of states are mandating that 10-20% of energy consumption come from renewable sources:
- California is accepting applications for a $250 million statewide incentive program for solar water heating systems installed in single-family homes that replace either natural gas-powered water heaters or electric water heaters (forget that California cannot afford a pack of chewing gum).
- The Colorado Governor's Energy Office provides rebates to Colorado businesses and nonprofits that pay commercial utility rates and purchase and install qualifying photovoltaic, solar water heating, and wind energy systems.
- Florida City Gas offers rebates for the purchase and installation of efficient natural gas appliances (water heaters, furnaces, gas ranges, and clothes dryers).
- Maine authorizes its municipalities to establish loan programs to provide financing for clean energy improvements to property owners.
What these renewable energy programs mean for legal employment varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and with the components and complexity of each specific program. Contractors need advice and assistance in interpreting the bevy of complex rules and regulations that states and municipalities issue to govern renewable and energy efficiency incentive programs. Regulatory areas in demand include:
- public benefit funds
- energy efficiency and renewable standards
- renewable energy net metering
- interconnection standards
- renewable energy contractor licensing requirements
- equipment certification requirements
- solar and wind access laws and rules
- design and construction
- green power purchasing
- mandatory green power utility options
In a number of states, new entities have been established to administer renewables programs. These entities will need staff, but don’t look for too much hiring activity due to state budget constraints. Where utilities provide the impetus for these programs, the need for such expertise is easier to meet.
While Government Sleeps…
There is money to be made in renewables and the private sector knows this. A lot is happening in the absence of a sane, coherent national energy policy:
- Major breakthroughs in solar cell technology using nanocrystals that hold the promise of far less expensive solar cells without sacrificing efficiency.
- Semiconductor material has been developed that captures more solar energy per cell.
- A Providence, Rhode Island company is planning on a wind farm to be located 18-27 miles from shore—where winds are stronger and more sustained—in water much deeper than is presently feasible. The hysteria generated by wealthy citizens of places like Nantucket and Santa Barbara because they might have to look out their windows at wind turbines off in the distance might subside thanks to this, since they won’t be able to see them.
- A Massachusetts company recently received permits granting it the right to explore energy production at dozens of sites along the lower Mississippi River. Its unique technology would place turbines at the bottom of the river and let the current generate power.
Building the Gas Infrastructure
U.S. natural gas reserves are enormous, but our infrastructure for substituting gas for oil is virtually non-existent. Natural gas could go a long way toward energy independence. Massive national infrastructure projects generate thousands of legal and law-related jobs.
Hydraulic fracturing has generated both public and political opposition. Videos of someone turning on their tap and watching the water that comes out burn are everywhere. Several states have imposed a moratorium on hydro-fracking, which pretty much shuts down gas well drilling.
“Petro-fracking” is not very widespread yet, but early indications are it could solve the water contamination problem and be just as economical as hydro-fracking. This could mean the end of state moratoriums (New York has one in place now) and the continuation of the hiring binge upon which gas companies have been engaged for the past two years. More than 20,000 Landman positions were created during this time frame.
What Is Energy Practice?
Energy practice develops in response to government regulation of the exploration, development, usage, sale, transmission, transportation, disposal, and conservation of energy in all its manifestations. It deals with everything involved with exploration, development, distribution, and pricing of energy resources. There is a heavy emphasis on transactions, followed closely by regulation and litigation. Energy encompasses many practice areas, often with a unique twist. For example, acquiring land for oil and gas exploration and development means securing surface rights and subsurface rights, and competing for oil and gas tracts in government Outer Continental Shelf Lease Sale auctions.
Law-Related Jobs
Attorneys can be found occupying the following law-related energy and natural resource job titles:
- Carbon Transactions Manager
- Compliance Enforcement Analyst
- Compliance Enforcement Analyst Mitigation/Reporting
- Compliance Program Auditor
- Director of Nuclear Licensing
- Energy Advocate
- Energy Conservation Program Specialist
- Energy Efficiency Program Manager
- Energy Regulatory Affairs Professional
- Energy Trading Compliance Officer
- Landman (Oil and Gas)
- Land Agent
- Leasing Administrator
- Manager of Compliance
- Mineral Appeals Analyst
- Natural Resources Specialist
- Nuclear Regulatory Affairs Director
- Oil and Gas Leasing Policy Analyst
- Petroleum Negotiator
- Public Utilities Specialist
- Rate Analyst
- Regulatory Projects Manager
- Regulatory Representative
- Renewable Energy Program Specialist
- Right-of-Way Manager
- Transmission Right-of-Way Specialist
- Utility Contract Administration Analyst
Who Hires Law-Related Staff?
Energy and Natural Resource Companies. Existing ones are expanding their hiring to keep pace with governmental and global developments; new ones are proliferating to take advantage of new technologies coming out of research universities, government laboratories, and large corporations.
The Public Sector. Public sector practice is weighted toward regulation and is not limited to the U.S. Department of Energy. More than 60 federal departments, agencies and offices have a role in energy and natural resource matters, and many of these employ JDs in law-related positions. Other major agencies with multiple offices involved in the industry include the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Department of Interior and Department of Justice.
Every state government has at least one energy regulatory agency, which typically handles a wide range of issues, including:
- Energy efficiency in homes, buildings, industry, and agriculture
- Renewable energy, e.g., solar, wind, geothermal, biomass
- Residential, commercial, and institutional energy building codes
- Transportation and heating fuel supplies, pricing, and distribution
- Oil, natural gas, electricity, and other forms of energy production and distribution
- Energy–environment integration (such as conservation to reduce air emissions)
- New and emerging high-efficiency transportation fuels and technologies
- Energy security and emergency preparedness
Traditional oil patch states generally have more than one agency regulating energy and natural resources. Texas, for example has the following:
- Railroad Commission
- Attorney General Natural Resources Division
- Coastal Coordination Council
- General Land Office
- Board of Professional Geoscientists
- Lower Colorado River Authority
- Public Utility Commission
- Office of Public Utility Counsel
Trade Associations and Advocacy and Public Interest Organizations. Hundreds are involved in energy and natural resources. Major ones include:
- American Petroleum Institute
- American Coal Council
- American Gas Association
- Edison Electric Institute
- Interstate Natural Gas Association of America
- National Association of Royalty Owners
- National Association of State Energy Officials
- Clean Energy States Alliance
- National Petrochemical & Refiners Association
- Solar Energy Industries Association
- Association of Oil Pipe Lines
- Geothermal Energy Association
- American Council on Renewable Energy
- American Wind Energy Association (aside: 5 wind energy assns. In US)
- American Hydrogen Association
Venture Capital Firms. A number of venture capital companies focus on making significant energy industry investments.
International. The nature of the energy industry and resource utilization makes this an international activity. Multinational energy companies dominate the industry. Also many international agencies deal with energy, including:
- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- International Atomic Energy Agency
- International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
- International Energy Agency
- International Gas Union
- International Geothermal Association
- World Energy Council
- World LP Gas Association
- World Trade Organization
Breaking In
Because energy and natural resources are heavily transaction and regulation-oriented, there are as many law-related positions for which a law degree is an advantage, but not a requirement, as purely legal (attorney) positions. Substantive knowledge of energy industry, policy and law easy to pick up quickly. Moreover, the dynamism of the industry, its rapid evolution, marked by new extraction technologies and the emerging price competitiveness of renewables, means that there are few “experts.”
Credential Enhancements
These can be useful to increase knowledge, make you a more attractive candidate, and earn you higher compensation. Selected credentialing programs include:
University of Denver Sturm College of Law—Certificate of Studies in Natural Resources Law and Policy
University of Houston Bauer College of Business
- Energy Risk Management Certificate
- Energy Investment Analysis Certificate
- Energy Finance Certificate
- Economics of the Energy Value Chain Certificate
University of California—Davis Extension
- Energy Resource Management Certificate (on-site and online)
- Green Building and Renewable Energy Certificate (on-site and online)
- Green Building and Sustainable Design Certificate (on-site and online)
University of Vermont Law School— Summer Energy Programs
American Association of Professional Landmen
- Certified Professional Landman
- Registered Professional Landman Designation
- Registered Landman Designation
Centenary College Graduate—Certificate in Oil & Gas Management
International School of Nuclear Law—Introductory Course on Nuclear Law
University of Colorado—Graduate Energy Certificate Program
Texas Tech University—Graduate Certificate Program in Wind Energy
University of Massachusetts, Boston—Graduate Certificate in Clean Energy and Sustainability
Texas Christian University Energy Institute—Petroleum Land Professional Certificate Program
Stanford University— Energy Seminar (online)[A free, 15-lecture course]
- Energy Policy and Administration (online)
- Alternative and Renewable Energies (online)
Membership Organizations
These are excellent networking and information sources. Some have local chapters around the country. Several list jobs on their websites. They are also superb resources for identifying and targeting specific employers. A selection includes:
- American Wind Energy Association
- U.S. Green Building Council
- American Solar Energy Society
- Association of Energy Services Professionals
- Institute for Energy Law
- Natural Resources Defense Council
Job Websites
For More Information
- Alternative Energy News
- American Coal Council
- American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE)
- American Hydrogen Association
- Association of International Petroleum Negotiators
- Association of Oil Pipe Lines
- Biomass Energy Research Association
- Electric Power Research Institute
- Energy Information Administration
- Energy Law Journal Online
- Energy Planet Renewable Energy Directory
- Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Geothermal Energy Association
- National Association of Royalty Owners
- National Association of State Energy Officials
- National Mining Association
- National Ocean Industries Association
- Nuclear Energy Institute
- Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
- Solar Energy Industries Association
- U.S. Department of Energy
- U.S. Department of Interior
- Wave Energy Centre
- Wind Energy Resource Atlas of the United States
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