Romany M. Webb
Romany Webb is Deputy Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Research Scholar at Columbia Law School, and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Climate at Columbia Climate School. Romany’s research focuses on two primary areas: (1) energy and (2) negative emissions technologies. Romany’s energy-related research explores how legal and policy tools can be used to minimize the climate impacts of energy development as well the impacts of climate change on energy infrastructure. Romany also researches legal issues associated with the development and deployment of negative emissions technologies on land and in the ocean. From 2020 through 2022, she served on the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee on Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal and Sequestration. She now co-chairs the Climate Change, Sustainable Development, and Ecosystems Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources and serves on a number of other boards and advisory councils.
Prior to joining the Sabin Center, Romany worked at the University of California Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute, researching executive authority to combat climate change. Romany also completed a fellowship with the Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business at the University of Texas at Austin, where she researched energy policy. The fellowship followed several years working in private practice in Sydney, Australia.
Romany received an LL.M., with a certificate of specialization in environmental law, from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. She also holds an LL.B., awarded with first class honors, from the University of New South Wales (Australia).
- Using the Oceans to Store CO2 Could Help Avoid Climate Catastrophe (with Michael B. Gerrard) (Bloomberg Law, December 2021)
- Removing Carbon Dioxide Through Seaweed Cultivation: Legal Challenges and Opportunities (with Korey Silverman-Roati and Michael B. Gerrard, September 2021)
- Removing Carbon Dioxide Through Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement: Legal Challenges and Opportunities (with Korey Silverman-Roati and Michael B. Gerrard, August 2021)
- The Legal Framework for Offshore Carbon Capture and Storage in Canada (with Michael B. Gerrard) (Sabin Center White Paper, February 2021)
- Removing Carbon Dioxide Through Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement and Seaweed Cultivation: Legal Challenges and Opportunities (with Korey Silverman-Roati and Michael B. Gerrard) (Sabin Center White Paper, February 2021)
- Climate Risk in the Electricity Sector: Legal Obligations to Advance Climate Resilience Planning by Electric Utilities (with Michael Panfil and Sarah Ladin) (Sabin Center White Paper, December 2020)
- The Law of Enhanced Weathering for Carbon Dioxide Removal (Sabin Center White Paper, September 2020)
- When Politics Trump Science: The Erosion of Science-Based Regulation (with Lauren Kurtz and Susan Rosenthal) (Environmental Law Reporter, September 2020)
- Climate Change, FERC, and Natural Gas Pipelines: The Legal Basis for Considering Greenhouse Gas Emissions Under Section 7 of the Natural Gas Act (Sabin Center White Paper, June 2019)
- “Methane,” in Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the U.S. (Michael Gerrard and John Dernbach eds., 2019)
- “Production and Delivery of Low-Carbon Gaseous Fuels,” in Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the U.S. (Michael Gerrard and John Dernbach eds., 2019)
- Deploying Advanced Metering Infrastructure on the Natural Gas System (Sabin Center White Paper, July 2018)
- Geological Storage of CO2 in Sub-Seafloor Basalt (with David Goldberg et al.) (Energy Procedia, July 2018)
- Climate Change Impacts on the Bulk Power System (with Justin Gundlach) (Sabin Center White Paper, Feb. 2018)
- Distributed Energy Resource Participation in Wholesale Markets (with Justin Gundlach) (Energy Law Journal, May 2018)
- Carbon Pricing in New York ISO Markets (with Justin Gundlach) (Pace Environmental Law Review, Jan. 2018)
- Policy Readiness for Offshore Carbon Dioxide Storage in the Northeast (with Michael Gerrard) (Sabin Center White Paper, June 2017)
- Increasing Gasoline Octane Levels to Reduce Vehicle Emissions (Sabin Center White Paper, Jan. 2017)
- Changing Tides in Water Management: Policy Options to Encourage Greater Recycling of Fracking Wastewater (William & Mary Environmental Policy Review, 2017)
- Safety First, Environment Last: Improving Regulation of Gas Pipeline Leaks (KBH Center for Energy, Law, and Business, Sep. 2015)
- EPA’s Clean Power Plan: Implementation Options (KBH Center for Energy, Law, and Business, June 2015) (co-authored with Melinda Taylor)
- Lost But Not Forgotten: The Hidden Environmental Costs of Compensating Pipelines for Natural Gas Losses (KBH Center for Energy, Law, and Business, Apr. 2015)
- “Water,” in The Laws of Australia (Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG ed., Thompson Reuters Australia, 2015)
- Addressing Climate Change Without Legislation (Berkeley Energy and Climate Institute, Aug. 2014) (co-authored with Steven Weissman)
- Australian Water Law (Thompson Reuters Australia, 2015) (co-authored with Kate Stoeckel, Luke Woodward, & Amy Hankinson)