Biography
Message
This is an exciting time to be working and studying in the area of energy and environmental law and policy. With increasing attention being focused on climate change and sustainability, it is essential that students have a deep familiarity with the convergence of issues relating to energy and the environment. The production of energy is the leading contributor to heat-trapping gases, for example, and the study of energy is inextricably intertwined with its associated environmental impacts. Technological advances are also reshaping our energy policies, such as through the impact of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling on the availability and cost of natural gas resources and through the dramatic decline in costs of distributed generation resources (primarily solar photovoltaic) that is driving a fundamental re-evaluation of the electric utility business model. The future is going to be far different than the past in the energy industry, and students focusing on energy and the environment have the opportunity to develop the tools that will allow them to participate in the transformations that are currently underway in the energy industry.
Biography
James M. (Jamie) Van Nostrand is a guest lecturer in utility regulation for the Atkinson School's "Utility Management Certificate" program. Mr. Van Nostrand is a Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Energy and Sustainable Development at the West Virginia University College of Law. In addition to his law school teaching, he is currently associated with the law firm of Keyes & Fox LLP as Of Counsel as well as an Energy Policy Expert with EQ Research LLC. Mr. Van Nostrand recently served as a Senior Policy Advisor to Chairman John Rhodes of the New York Public Service Commission. Before joining the faculty at the WVU College of Law, Mr. Van Nostrand spent three years as a member of the adjunct faculty at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, NY and Executive Director of the Pace Energy and Climate Center, which is an environmental policy and advocacy organization active on energy and environmental issues in New York and the Northeast.
Before entering into law school teaching, Mr. Van Nostrand was in private law practice as a partner in the Environmental and Natural Resources practice group of large law firms based in the Pacific Northwest. In his 22-year career in private practice, Mr. Van Nostrand represented energy clients in state regulatory proceedings in eight western states, as well as proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Before going into private practice, he spent five years with the New York Public Commission as an Assistant to the Commission for Opinions and Review and as Assistant to the Chairman.
Mr. Van Nostrand is involved in various energy and environmental efforts in West Virginia, offering objective, unbiased research and policy analyses and promoting policies that strike a proper balance between the development of energy resources and protection of the environment.