By Laura Godfrey, Joshua Marnitz and Janice Schneider

On July 27, 2012, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as joint lead agencies announced the availability of the Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Solar Energy Development in Six Southwestern States (Final Solar PEIS).  77 Fed. Reg. 44267 (July 27, 2012).  Release of the Final Solar PEIS represents the near-culmination of a process begun by BLM and DOE (the Agencies) in May 2008

By David B. Amerikaner, Marc T. Campopiano, Michael J. Gergen, Laura Godfrey, David A. Goldberg and Jared W. Johnson

On April 12, 2011, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 2 to increase California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) to 33% by 2020, among the most aggressive renewable energy goals in the United States.  Originally enacted in 2002, California’s RPS previously set a 20% by 2010 standard.  The new RPS requires regulated sellers of electricity to procure