At the top of my final Chair’s Infrastructure column, I wanted to “pass the baton” to and introduce the incoming Infrastructure and Regulated Industries Section Chair, J. Bradley Fewell. I am excited to see what IRIS will achieve under Brad’s leadership this coming year. I am very confident that Brad will be exceptional.
June 30, 2021 Columns
Chair’s Column, Summer 2021
By Catherine P. McCarthy
Looking back on my own fast-concluding year as Chair, I am grateful to all of our Section members, our supporter Charles River Associates, and the many at the ABA who work to maintain a consistent standard of excellence for our Section, including our Section Director Susan Koz, Administrative Assistant Patricia Honzik, Infrastructure Staff Editor Lisa V. Comforty, and Recent Developments Staff Editor Julie Furgerson.
Please make time to read Infrastructure and Recent Developments if you do not already. These publications are well worth your time. As you know, the legal analysis regarding one regulated industry is frequently transferable to another, so the insights provided in Infrastructure and Recent Developments can be invaluable. As an example, learning about state public utility commission holdings regarding recovery of acquisition premiums in water utility mergers and acquisitions helped me when analyzing options on an acquisition premium recovery issue for a client in another regulated industry before another regulator.
IRIS programming and publications also make us smarter lawyers by keeping us updated. As the IRIS webpage indicates, the regulated industries we focus on have “rapidly changing legal environments.” Legal environments for regulated industries are changing today even more rapidly than ever before as regulated industries, regulators, and other interested parties grapple with how best to respond to cybersecurity threats, challenges related to climate change, and environmental justice issues, and they consider how to incorporate new technology into the existing regulatory framework. For example, what are the most appropriate policies for the 5G rollout?
Over the past year, our group explored legal issues related to many evolving issues, including environmental justice, bans on the use of natural gas, carbon capture and storage, energy storage, and cyber threats to our communications systems as well as to oil and gas, electricity, and water infrastructure. Much of our nation’s critical infrastructure is privately owned, so regulators’ requirements and policies on supply chains, etc. are complex.
Please access Section material on our Section webpage, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/infrastructure-regulated-industries, and follow us on Twitter @AmericanBarIRIS. Consider taking advantage of our Section podcasts—we will definitely continue to add more in the future. Also, our Section plans to hold a virtual session in conjunction with the ABA’s Annual Meeting on Thursday, August 5, 11 a.m. –12:30 p.m.; details for accessing these sessions will be available on the ABA Annual Meeting website. I invite you to attend. We are hoping to continue with some of the virtual initiatives we relied on during the pandemic. Hopefully, our “best practices” will be enhanced post-pandemic.
We always welcome suggestions for additional Section content. Please let us know about such ideas and also whether there are other ways we can improve your experience as a Section member. I can be reached at [email protected] and 202-828-5839, and Staff Director Susan Koz can be reached at [email protected].
It has been a privilege and honor to serve as your Section Chair, and I look forward to continuing to work with you.