The Sixth Edition of Energy, Economics and the Environment focuses on the unifying characteristics of energy law, while also emphasizing its connections to environmental and economic issues affecting energy industries. The casebook covers the full range of energy resources, as well as an in-depth examination of issues related to electric power.

Like previous editions, this casebook is intended to be used in an Energy Law survey course, but the materials in the book are rich enough that they can also be adapted to a course or seminar covering renewable energy, oil & gas, electricity regulation, or advanced topics in environmental law. Previous editions of the casebook have been used in law school classrooms for more than two decades. The new edition of the casebook provides a pedagogical window that can readily be adapted to a variety of courses and teaching styles as issues in energy continue to change. Materials in the casebook include extended problems, case studies, and other practice-oriented materials to allow students to learn important concepts in a practical context.

We emphasize four recurring and cross-cutting themes throughout the casebook: (1) public versus private ownership of energy resources; (2) monopoly vs. competition; (3) externalities and risk concepts; and (4) public governance, including federalism issues. These four themes have defined energy law since the early twentieth century—and they are at play in every energy resource arena today.


Imprint: Foundation Press
Series: University Casebook Series
Publication Date: 12/07/2023

Joel B. Eisen, University of Richmond School of Law

Emily Hammond, George Washington University Law School

Joshua Macey, University of Chicago Law School

Jim Rossi, Vanderbilt University Law School

David B. Spence, University of Texas School of Law

Hannah J. Wiseman, Penn State University Park

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This title is available in our CasebookPlus format. CasebookPlus provides support beyond your classroom lectures and materials by offering additional digital resources to you and your students. Anchored by faculty-authored formative self-assessments keyed to our most popular casebooks, CasebookPlus allows students to test their understanding of core concepts as they are learning them in class – on their own, outside of the classroom, with no extra work on your part. CasebookPlus combines three important elements:

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Leading digital study aids, an outline starter, and audio lectures in select subjects

Students can still utilize CasebookPlus digital resources if they’ve purchased a used book or are renting their text by purchasing the Learning Library at westacademic.com.

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Energy law is a dynamic field, and new developments since the book’s Fifth Edition have significantly impacted its landscape. Although every chapter of the book has been updated, significant changes to content in the Sixth Edition include:

  • In many chapters, exploration and analysis of the most significant federal climate legislation in the history of the United States—the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—and the central focus of this legislation on low-carbon energy resources.
  • Expanded analysis of the critical nature of a larger and more interconnected transmission grid to support low-carbon energy; hurdles to this expansion; and legal and policy changes in the areas of cost allocation and transmission planning that may help to overcome some of these hurdles or create further challenges.
  • More detailed and expansive discussion of the increasingly contentious area of the siting of new interstate natural gas pipelines, including eminent domain and energy justice issues in this context.
  • Substantially updated and expanded discussion of modern energy storage technologies.
  • Discussion of Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment v. Bureau of Indian Affairs, a Ninth Circuit case addressing the sovereign immunity of American Indian tribes.
  • Analysis of the implications of Sackett v. EPA—an important U.S. Supreme Court case addressing federal jurisdiction over water—in the chapters addressing hydroelectricity and coal.
  • Emphasis on the devastating impacts of the Winter Storm Uri blackout on the U.S. South—particularly in Texas—and the electric grid and natural gas vulnerabilities that the storm highlighted, as well as discussion of responses to the blackout.
  • A wholly revamped discussion of the Dormant Commerce Clause and its prevalence in the energy sector, and an edited version of National Pork Producers Council v. Ross (2023).
  • In the Oil and Gas chapter, a new section on subsurface energy, including analysis of how subsurface pore space will raise more property rights issues as numerous uses of the surface emerge to mitigate and adapt to climate change, including geologic carbon sequestration, subsurface water storage, hydrogen storage, and geothermal energy development, for example.
  • Substantial updates on energy statistics in every chapter, such as the share of renewable energy generation in the United States, declining costs of renewable energy, changes to coal production and exports, and declining numbers of active nuclear power plant projects.
  • Expanded discussion of growing incentives for electric vehicles and the hurdles to achieving an electrified transportation system.

Learn more about this series.