Przesłanka interesu publicznego w działaniach Prezesa URE i Prezesa UOKiK na rynku energetycznym

Every action of the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection [PL: Prezes Urzędu Ochrony Konkurencji i Konsumentów] must be taken in the public interest – the primary purpose of the antimonopoly regulation is to protect the business of entrepreneurs and consumers in the public interest. The President of the Energy Regulatory Office [PL: Urząd Regulacji Energetyki] is also governed by public interest activities. Under the applicable law, he is responsible for the development of competition, and one of his duties is to counteract the adverse effects of natural monopolies and balance the business of energy companies and fuel and energy consumers. In the Act on competition and consumer protection [PL: ustawa o ochronie konkurencji i konsumentów], the notion of public interest is defined very generally. However, the Act on Energy Law [PL: ustawa – Prawo energetyczne] precisely specifies which elements shall be taken into account by the President of the Energy Regulatory Office each time when making a decision. A number of his activities aim to balance the business of energy security with the protection of energy companies’ business and consumers’ business, including issuing decisions on approval of tariffs. The President of the Energy Regulatory Office ensures the implementation of the public interest in this respect, and such interest cannot be understood differently by another regulatory authority under another act. Otherwise, a violation of the axiological coherence of the legal system occurs. In this particular context (in terms of the implementation of the public interest), priority should be given to the utility regulatory authority (the President of ERO) and not to the antimonopoly authority. However, in this case, we are not dealing with a contradiction of the wording of the provisions but with a potential contradiction in terms of the understanding and application of the public interest premise. Therefore, the provisions of utility acts constitute a lex specialis in this respect to the Act on competition and consumer protection – taking into account this particular approach, such contradiction does not occur. Consequently, it should be concluded that if a given action of the President of ERO (an administrative decision issuance) implemented the public interest by the Act (and was maintained in legal transactions, was not repealed, etc.), it thus excludes the possibility of taking action by the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection which was based on the need to protect this public interest.

Dilematika dan Tantangan Pengawasan Nuklir di Masa Pandemi COVID-19

Dilematics and Challenges of Nuclear Regulatory Control During the Pandemic of Covid-19. Any activity using nuclear energy must be controlled by the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN). The regulatory control is aimed at protecting the health and safety of working personnel, public and environment from the potential hazards arising from nuclear activities. In the implementation of regulatory control, it often needs to do activity involving a number of people, such as meeting to discuss regulation or to clarify some issues of licensing. In many cases, it needs also to do licensing verification and regulatory inspection to the nuclear/radiation facilities to ensure their safety conditions. However, since the outbreak of COVID-19, activities that involve many people such as meetings and visits must be reduced. This has created some regulatory dilemmas and challenges. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a study to analyze these dilemmas/challenges to find their solutions. Present study using analytical descriptive method was performed to answer such problems. This paper presents results of the study in the form of analysis of the regulatory dilemmas/challenges, and recommends some solutions.¬

Understanding the Environmental Study Life Cycle in the United States Hydropower Licensing and Federal Authorization Process

We analyzed United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) documents prepared for 29 recently licensed hydropower projects and created two novel datasets to improve understanding of the environmental study life cycle, defined here as the process that begins with an environmental study being requested by a hydropower stakeholder or regulator, and ends with the study either being rejected or approved/conducted. Our two datasets consisted of summaries of information taken from (1), study determination letters prepared by FERC for 23 projects that were using the integrated licensing process, and (2), environmental study submittals and issuances tracked and attributed to seven projects using the FERC record. Our objective was to use the two resulting environmental life cycle datasets to understand which types of environmental studies are approved, rejected, and implemented during FERC licensing, and how consistently those types of studies are required across multiple hydropower projects. We matched the requested studies to a set of 61 river function indicators in eight categories and found that studies related to the category of biota and biodiversity were requested most often across all 29 projects. Within that category, studies related to river function indicators of presence, absence, detection of species and habitat/critical habitat were the most important to stakeholders, based on the relative number of studies requested. The study approval, rejection, and request rates were similar within each dataset, although the 23 projects with study determination letters had many rejected studies, whereas the dataset created from the seven projects had very few rejected studies.

High 5-Methyletetrahydrofolate and Folic Acid Gestational Diets Differ on Leptin-Dependent Hypothalamic Genes Regulating Food Intake in Female Offspring

Objectives While the replacement of folic acid (FA) with the bioactive folate form 5-methyltetrahydrofolate (MTHF) is gaining popularity, a comparison of their effects during pregnancy is limited. In a comparison of maternal intakes of FA and MTHF at recommended or high (5X) doses in Wistar rat dams, we found that dams fed 5X MTHF gained > 70% more weight and ate 8% more food to 19-weeks post weaning (PW) than those fed the high FA diet (Nutrients. 2021;13:48). However, both high dose diets resulted in dysregulation of leptin and central energy regulatory systems. The objective of this study was to compare the effect of gestational FA and MTHF diets on metabolic response and leptin-dependent hypothalamic energy-regulatory genes in the brain of their female offspring. Methods Pregnant Wistar rats were fed an AIN-93G diet with 1X recommended (2mg/kg diet) or 5X FA or equimolar MTHF. At weaning, female offspring were fed a high-fat diet until 19-weeks PW. Body weight, food intake, adiposity, plasma leptin, and gene expression of leptin signaling and related candidate genes in the hypothalamus were measured. Results Similar to the mothers, the 5X-MTHF gestational diet resulted in offspring with higher weight (>15%, P < 0.01) independent of visceral adiposity, and higher food intake (8% P < 0.01) compared to those born to dams fed the 5X-FA, but not from the 1X folate diets. Both 5X diets led to higher plasma leptin at birth (60%, P < 0.05) and at 19-weeks PW (40%, P < 0.01) and up-regulated hypothalamic mRNA of the downstream leptin signalling gene, signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (Stat3). However, only 5X-MTHF offspring had lower expression of leptin receptor (Ob-rB) and higher expression of suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (Socs-3), an inhibitor of leptin signalling and indicator of central leptin resistance. In contrast, 5X-FA offspring had higher expression (>1.5-fold, P < 0.01) of dopamine and GABA- receptors which are targets of leptin and associated with feeding inhibition and hyperactivity. Conclusions Folate form and dose during pregnancy affects long-term programming of leptin dependent hypothalamic regulatory pathways in female offspring. Unfavorable differences in response to FA and MTHF were seen at the higher doses, thus neither should be consumed at high intakes. Funding Sources CIHR-INMD; EP by NSERC-CGS.

Does Anti-corruption Policy Influence Energy Efficiency in China?

The Chinese government has stepped up its anti-corruption efforts since 2013; the National Energy Administration (NEA), an energy regulatory agency, has been hard hit by corruption. This paper analyzes the impact of government corruption on energy efficiency (EE) from a perspective of energy regulations and also a mechanism of the impact of corruption on EE, and then adopts statistical methods to estimate the impact of corruption on EE in China. The results show that government corruption generally has a negative effect on EE in China. The establishment of dispatched energy regulatory agencies in eastern China can significantly reduce the adverse effects of corruption on EE. Furthermore, a single threshold effect was found between corruption and EE. Finally, based on the results of an empirical analysis, suggestions for a constructive policy are put forward.

Effects of aerobic exercise induced oxidative stress on energy regulatory hormones of irisin and nesfatin-1 in healthy females

Objectives: Exercise is an important tool to stimulate oxidative stress and metabolic demands. We intended to evaluate impact of aerobic exercise on oxidative stress parameters and their relationships between irisin and nesfatin-1 levels. Material and Method: Total of ten healthy sedentary female subjects exercise for a 30 min of aerobic running exercise work intensity corresponded to associated their anaerobic threshold. Venous blood samples were taken before and at the end of the exercise. Serum irisin nesfatin-1 and TAS and TOS levels were analyzed using ELISA methods. Results: Exercise caused increase of irisin (11%) and nesfatin-1 (12%) levels. During exercise a decrease in TAS (-11%) and increased in TOS (29%) levels were observed. There was a significant correlation between changes of irisin and TAS levels (R=-0.67594, p=0.03). Conclusion: Consequently, exercise induced skeletal muscle activity may cause increase in oxidative stress, irisin and nesfatin-1 levels. Irisin hormone may be a secreted against to increased exercise-induced increased oxidative stress muscle activity.