Data centers are rapidly expanding due to increased reliance on cloud computing, AI, and streaming services, creating significant challenges for public utilities, regulators, and other consumers. This growth strains grid infrastructure and requires costly upgrades to maintain reliability. Data centers’ demand for near-perfect reliability and renewable energy integration adds complexity, while regulators must balance cost allocation and address equity concerns, such as higher rates and environmental impacts on local communities. Industrial consumers, including the oil and gas sector, face competition for electricity and renewable energy resources. Recent regulatory actions, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s rejection of a direct supply agreement between a nuclear plant and Amazon over grid reliability concerns, and Ohio’s adoption of an alternative framework for data center power payments, reflect growing efforts to address these challenges. This presentation will examine these issues and explore potential solutions, including demand-side management, direct power purchase agreements, grid modernization, energy storage, and decentralization, highlighting the legal and policy responses to balance growth and sustainability.
0.9 CLE Credit
This course has been accredited for CLE credit in Colorado. CLE credit hours shown are for Colorado only. A CLE course number for Colorado will be provided to attendees on their certificates of attendance once a course has been completed. New Mexico attorneys who complete a course must notify us (cle@rmmlf.org) because we are required to report credits for you. If this course has been approved for RPL/CPL credit with the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL), the credits will be listed below in a separate section for AAPL. If applicable, Component Codes for AAPL recertification will also be provided. Please contact RMMLF if you need independent verification by the provider of your attendance or participation for CLE purposes. Except as provided above, RMMLF generally does not apply for accreditation from any other MCLE/CPD organizations for its online legal education program. Upon completion of a program a certificate of attendance will be issued to all attendees. Except as provided above, attendees must verify with their respective state bars and CPD organizations and their specific rules as to whether or not the certificate of attendance will be recognized by that body for MCLE/CPD purposes, and the number of CLE/CPD credits that may be available. The live presentation of the on-demand program has been accredited in most mandatory states as part of a larger course, but such accreditation does not assure recognition of the on-demand program.
JUSTINA CAVIGLIA is a Shareholder at Parsons Behle & Latimer in their Reno office and is a member of Parsons’ Energy, Environmental and Natural Resources practice team. Justina’s practice focuses on regulatory, administrative and litigation matters that involve energy, natural gas, water, wastewater, and infrastructure projects. She is licensed to practice law in Nevada and Washington and has also represented clients with regulatory and infrastructure projects in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, and Utah. She has represented clients before various local and state administrative agencies, district courts, federal courts, the Nevada Supreme Court, the Ninth Judicial District Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Before joining Parsons, Justina worked as a senior regulatory attorney for an electric and gas utility, and a water and wastewater utility, handling various regulatory matters. Before her work with private utility companies, Justina served as a Senior Deputy Attorney General representing the Division of Water Resources and the Nevada State Engineer, handling litigation and administrative appeals involving surface water, groundwater, and other administrative decisions. She began her career with a local government handling various administrative, regulatory, litigation and appellate matters.
ZOË E. LEES is the Regional Vice President of Regulatory Policy at Xcel Energy, where she spearheads regulatory strategic planning and policy for New Mexico and Texas, especially concerning the need for new generation and transmission resources to meet electrification and economic growth in the service territory. Her previous role as a principal attorney in Xcel Energy’s southwestern region endowed her with profound insights into critical issues facing the utility and the industry today. Ms. Lees graduated cum laude from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2013, where she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Natural Resources Journal and the recipient of the Albert E. Utton Natural Resources Award. After graduating, Ms. Lees started her career at the Modrall Sperling law firm in Albuquerque. She currently sits on the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, is on the Trustees Council of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law and is a member of the Leadership New Mexico Core Class of 2025. Zoë is committed to fostering economic development and growth in Xcel’s New Mexico and Texas service territories, while propelling energy transition goals.
If available, this course will include materials (PowerPoints presentations and scholarly papers) authored by the speaker or speakers. The materials will be downloadable while viewing the presentation video.
