Regional Issue Identification and Assessment Program (RIIA): Issue Paper 3, Selected Institutional Aspects of Energy Development in the Northeast

摘要

The three papers presented in this volume discuss selected institutional problems, barriers, or opportunities that can play significant roles in shaping the energy future of the northeast. As used in this report, institutional issues are defined as those arising from or related to the formal or informal political setting and legal infrastructure within which energy-related plans and decisions are currently made and implemented. This first paper, on Eastern Canada-Northeastern US energy transfers, outlines the prospects for significant Canadian energy sales to the northeast, with particular attention to possible political constraints on such exports and repercussions from them. The second paper, on the socio-political context of nuclear power, describes the current dimensions of the nuclear controversy in the northeast and assesses the theoretical and policy implications of a number of dominant sociological perspectives on this debate. The third paper, on legal aspects of water/energy problems, focuses on water rights conflicts involving energy production uses and discusses the resolution of these conflicts in terms of the riparian doctrine of water rights and use followed by the northeastern states. (ERA citation 06:028818)