About

Disclaimer: This blog is on an extended hiatus. Posts and internal links are not being updated but remain here for historical research purposes. If you have further questions, please contact us.

Considering the Grid was developed and is maintained by Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP to assist regulators, consumer advocates, public power entities, and others interested in understanding and confronting the current challenges facing the energy sector.  These challenges—which include new environmental regulations, advancements in technology, and the shifting role of utilities and customers—are transforming the status quo for the energy business.  All public sector members, regardless of their position on a particular issue, should have easy access to information about the latest developments in the field—including regulations, court decisions, and technical analyses.  Considering the Grid serves that role.

Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP was formed in 1967 to represent the public side of our nation’s critical infrastructure industries, including energy, telecommunications, and aviation.  From the day that George Spiegel (1919–1997) decided to establish a law practice to champion consumers, communities and cooperatives in protecting their rights against private utility companies, our lawyers have sought to practice law in accordance with three very basic propositions:

  • Public sector and consumer-owned entities are entitled to legal representation of the highest quality, at a cost they can afford.  No public agency or consumer-owned enterprise should be forced to operate from a position of weakness because of its legal representation.
  • In any technical area, lawyers should be conversant with more than just the fine points of the law.  We must be able to communicate effectively with clients, expert witnesses, judges and others about highly technical matters.
  • Our clients are entitled to lawyers who approach problems with a broad perspective.  Narrow thinking leads to narrow solutions, and narrow solutions are usually poor solutions. We fight to promote consumer interests against

The blog started in 2015 with a focus on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, a regulation aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel fired electric plants.  It has evolved to cover, more broadly, the interplay among federal environmental regulations, state and federal energy activities, and utility operations.


DISCLAIMER

The information contained in Considering the Grid is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.  Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP expressly disclaims all liability in respect to actions taken or not taken based on any or all the contents of this site.  This blog contains general information and may not reflect current legal developments.  No recipients of content from this site should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content included in the site without seeking the appropriate legal or other professional advice on the particular facts and circumstances at issue from an attorney licensed in the recipient’s state. Communication with the authors or Spiegel & McDiarmid via e-mail through this site and/or the transmission of the blog, in whole or in part, does not constitute or create an attorney-client relationship between Spiegel & McDiarmid and any recipients.  Any information sent to Spiegel & McDiarmid via e-mail or through the firm’s website is non-confidential and not secure.

The firm does not endorse, and is not responsible for, any third-party content that may be accessed through this website.  To the extent State Bar Rules in your jurisdiction require us to designate a principal office or an attorney responsible for the Web Page Set, Spiegel & McDiarmid designates its principal office as Washington, DC and designates David Pomper as the attorney responsible for this site.  Please direct any questions about this web site to blog@spiegelmcd.com.

Copyright © 2015-2020 Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP.  All rights reserved. Materials from this blog may be downloaded and printed for your own personal use and for non-commercial distribution as long as the material is: a) reproduced in its entirety without modification; b) attributed to Spiegel & McDiarmid LLP and this website; and c) includes this copyright notice.  Any other use of this material requires the prior written consent of Spiegel & McDiarmid.  Materials on this website copyrighted to others than Spiegel & McDiarmid are used with permission as shown and any use of such material must be within the terms of that copyright.