Ballard Spahr


Everyone wants Washington to take action, but when politicians and regulators start moving ahead with reform plans it is a good bet almost no one is going to be happy with the outcome.

The energy sector, as one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country, has some surprisingly freewheeling elements following the piecemeal and incomplete deregulation of energy trading that followed decades of extreme centralization. Efforts to dismantle the old central-planning model of energy markets were halted by the extraordinary complexity of market disruptions in the late 1990s and early 2000s and have been lagging in the decade since. Keep reading →


Challenges abound for renewable power companies, especially small and medium-sized firms.

Difficulty obtaining a power purchase agreement, tax incentive uncertainty, the European debt crisis, and the post Lehman financial crisis in the US all continue to pose serious challenges. Keep reading →


Can you have too much a good thing? When it comes to natural gas, massive new supply development could alleviate energy price increases, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and enhance US energy security, but finding the right price to encourage development when a glut of gas is available remains a challenge for both producers and consumers.

Covering the quickly-evolving natural gas industry requires a broad range of knowledge, and Ballard Spahr LLP partner Dena Wiggins demonstrates an unusually comprehensive understanding of the sector’s opportunities and challenges in this Breaking Energy video interview. Breaking Energy spoke with Ballard Spahr attorneys at the US Association For Energy Economics conference in Washington, DC earlier this month. Keep reading →