Florida State University College of Law Scholarship Repository Scholarly Publications 2011 Expanding Regional Renewable Governance Hannah J. Wiseman Florida State University College of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.law.fsu.edu/articles Part of the Energy and Utilities Law Commons, Environmental Law Commons, and the State and Local Government Law Commons Recommended Citation Hannah J. Wiseman, Expanding Regional Renewable Governance, 35 HARV. ENVTL. L. REV. 477 (2011), Available at: https://ir.law.fsu.edu/articles/352 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Scholarly Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. \\jciprod01\productn\H\HLE\35-2\HLE208.txt unknown Seq: 1 2-AUG-11 9:28 EXPANDING REGIONAL RENEWABLE GOVERNANCE Hannah Wiseman* Energy drives economies and quality of life, yet accessible traditional fuels are increasingly scarce. Federal, state, and local governments have thus determined that renewable energy development is essential and have passed substantial require- ments for its use. These lofty goals will fail, however, if policymakers rely upon existing institutions to govern renewable development. Renewable fuels are fugitive resources, and ideal property for renewable technology is defined by the strength of the sunlight or wind that flows over it. When a potential site for a utility-scale development is identified, a new piece of property, which I call a “renewable par- cel,” is superimposed upon existing boundaries and jurisdictional lines. The entities within the parcel all possess rights to exclude, and this creates a tragedy with an- ticommons and regulatory commons elements, which hinder renewable development.