Repurposed Energy

Wildfires, weather extremes, and other conditions induced partially by climate change add urgency to the project of accelerating the clean energy transition from fossil fuels to zero-carbon energy infrastructure. Yet the hurdles to accomplishing such a massive industrial-scale transition are daunting. Indeed, large renewable energy generation projects regularly face denials or project-killing delays across the United States. This Article proposes a national policy to channel the bulk of new clean energy projects to targeted categories of both rural lands and urban, post-industrial lands that we define collectively as “repurposed energy” sites. Such lands will consist of marginal farmland, abandoned coal mines, retired or retiring coal plants, closed landfills, and other underutilized or abandoned properties known as “brownfields.” Repurposed energy addresses two core problems in the communities slated to host new clean energy generation projects like utility-scale (large) wind farms and solar plants. Developers predominantly pursue clean energy projects in rural and, to a lesser extent, post-industrial communities, where available land is more plentiful, but climate change denial or opposition to clean energy projects can be significant. Yet many of these communities also have flagging economies, underutilized infrastructure, and abandoned lands previously used for energy resource extraction or industrial activities. Prioritizing such lands for clean energy projects addresses the dual problems of clean energy opposition and economic decline, and it comes at a perfect moment. The massive infusion of federal money from the recent federal infrastructure and climate bills can make repurposed energy a reality. In this Article we build on existing legislative and regulatory efforts that prioritize clean energy development on already-disturbed lands to construct a more complete legal and policy framework for implementing repurposed energy. In doing so, we explore the existing laws that can support this approach as well as new policies and cultural narratives needed to ensure that the energy transition comprehensively addresses the governance issues, political economic barriers, procedural hurdles, and environmental and energy justice challenges associated with the massive buildout of U.S. energy infrastructure. This build-out is a critical step toward combating climate change. As with all challenges in the energy realm, repurposed energy is far from a complete solution, but it is an achievable one and, we argue, a central enabling pillar of a successful energy transition.