Lauren M. Perkins

Experience

Ms. Perkins’ practice focuses on assisting with issues before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), representing the Firm’s consumer-owned clients (municipal utilities and electric cooperatives) in matters concerning their FERC-jurisdictional public utility transmission providers and wholesale power suppliers.  She primarily assists Colorado public power authorities and electric distribution cooperatives, including in transmission owner rate cases at FERC.  In California, Ms. Perkins assists the Firm’s clients in following California Independent System Operator (CAISO) stakeholder initiatives, providing updates for load-serving entities (e.g., community choice aggregators and municipal utilities) inside and outside the CAISO.  She has also assisted the Firm’s clients with tracking North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reliability matters, as well as with analyzing state regulatory issues including in California and the District of Columbia.

Prior to formally joining the Firm in 2018, Ms. Perkins interned for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in the Administrative Law Judge Division, California Department of Transportation, and for the Honorable Thomas J. Whelan at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California.  She also participated in the University of San Diego’s Energy Law and Policy Clinic, working on an energy efficiency and enforcement issue for the California Energy Commission.  She enjoys remaining engaged in the University of San Diego’s energy law community by attending the annual Climate & Energy Law Symposium.

Ms. Perkins is based in the Firm’s Sacramento, California office.

Areas of Focus

Presentations & Publications

Presentations

• Panelist, “With Chevron Out, What’s Left for Agency Discretion”, for the American Public Power Association’s Legal & Regulatory Conference (Oct. 21, 2024)
• Presenter, "FERC Update", for Colorado Rural Electric Association's Legal Seminar (May 3, 2024)
• Presenter, “Federal Topics of Current & Future Interest to Colorado Coops: PURPA section 111 standards and FERC Order 2222 et seq”, for Colorado Rural Electric Association’s Legal Seminar (Oct. 7, 2022)
• EUCI Seminar, FERC 101, FERC Compliance and Enforcement, (with Sean Neal, Lisa Gast, Bhaveeta Mody, Ellen Hill, and Gelane Diamond:), July 28-29, 2022
• New PURPA “Shall Consider” Standards:  A Guide to Public Power Obligations, for the APPA Academy, June 28, 2022 (with Sean Neal)
• Panelist, Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law, University of San Diego School of Law, “Energy Resilience and Extreme Weather Events” (Nov. 5, 2021) (presentation regarding “Hydropower’s Promise: The Opportunities and Challenges of Hydropower for Mitigating Climate-Driven Scarcity”, an article co-authored with Sylwia Dakowicz, Ellen Hill, Peter Kissel, and Sean Neal) 
  
• Presenter, EUCI Seminar, Electric Reliability 101, FERC Compliance and Enforcement, “Current Threats & Emerging Issues” (with Peter Scanlon, Sean Neal, Lisa Gast and Clarence Hawkes) (Sept. 9-10, 2020)
• Moderator, Panel on “The Impacts of Wildfires” at the Eleventh Annual Lesley K. McAllister Symposium on Climate and Energy Law in San Diego, CA (Nov. 8, 2019)

Publications

• Author, “Hope on the Horizon for Offshore Wind Development? An Examination of the Regulatory Framework Rhode Island Navigated to Make the Nation’s First Offshore Wind Farm a Reality, and the Implication for California’s Ability to Adopt a Similar Approach under the Coastal Zone Management Act,” San Diego Journal of Climate & Energy Law. 
• Lauren Perkins, Sylwia Dakowicz, Ellen Hill, Peter Kissel & Sean Neal, Hydropower's Promise: The Opportunities and Challenges of Hydropower for Mitigating Climate-Driven Scarcity, 13 San Diego J. Climate & Energy L. 37 (2022)Available at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/jcel/vol13/iss1/3