Following its recent opinion in Village of Morrisville v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has once again waded into the issue of when a state waives its certification authority under...more
7/17/2025
/ Appeals ,
Clean Water Act ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Policies ,
FERC ,
Hydropower ,
Judicial Review ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Scope of Authority ,
Water Quality
On July 3, 2025, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule revising its regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) to remove references to the recently rescinded...more
7/10/2025
/ CEQ ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Reform ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Power Act ,
FERC ,
Final Rules ,
Hydropower ,
NEPA ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on May 16, 2025, clarified the conditions under which a state waives its Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 401 water quality certification (WQC) authority. In Village of Morrisville...more
5/22/2025
/ Appeals ,
Certification Requirements ,
Clean Water Act ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Policies ,
FERC ,
Judicial Authority ,
Navigable Waters ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Section 401 ,
State and Local Government ,
Statutory Deadlines ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
Waivers ,
Water Quality
On July 19, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) issued an Order denying Tenaska Clear Creek Wind, LLC’s (“Clear Creek”) challenges to FERC’s orders allowing the...more
On March 12, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld a prospective rule change to PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) annual capacity auction but struck down attempts by PJM and FERC to apply the rule...more
At the February 15, 2024, FERC open meeting and in four orders issued the same day, FERC established a new policy governing its issuance of preliminary permits under section 4(f) of the Federal Power Act (“FPA”), pursuant to...more
On November 17, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) denied petitions challenging FERC’s approval of recent changes to the PJM Interconnection, L.L.C.’s (“PJM”) Open Access...more
On July 28, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) issued Order No. 2023 (Order No. 2023 or Final Rule), which updates the procedures for interconnecting large generating facilities (20MW and above)...more
8/4/2023
/ Electric Generation Suppliers ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Reform ,
Energy Sector ,
Energy Storage ,
FERC ,
Final Rules ,
Infrastructure ,
Interconnections ,
ISO/RTO ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Renewable Energy ,
SGIP
On May 26, 2023, the Commission accepted Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) proposed revisions to its Open Access Transmission Tariff (“Tariff”) to establish the “framework under which an electric storage resource may be...more
On December 30, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit (“9th Circuit”) affirmed a lower court’s denial of the Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe’s (“Tribe”) motion to remand to state court and its dismissal of the...more
On December 20, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (“D.C. Circuit”) in Waterkeepers Chesapeake, et al. v. FERC vacated a FERC order approving the relicensing of the Conowingo Dam because FERC did not have...more
On October 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) announced three new funding opportunities to support research and development projects for hydropower infrastructure in the United States. The funding totals $28...more
On September 21, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the text of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2022 (Act). This comprehensive Act was set to be...more
On August 1, the Supreme Court of California upheld a decision by the Court of Appeal, which found that the Federal Power Act (FPA) preempts application of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) when the state is...more
On April 21, 2022, FERC issued an order assessing a civil penalty of $600,000 to Ampersand Cranberry Lake Hydro, LLC (“Ampersand”), licensee for the 595 kilowatt (kW) Cranberry Lake Hydroelectric Project in St. Lawrence...more
On April 3, representatives of the hydropower industry, Native American tribes, and conservation organizations provided a package of proposed legislative reforms to the Federal Power Act (FPA) to the ranking members of the...more
On March 24, 2022, FERC issued an Order Addressing Arguments Raised on Rehearing and Denying Motion for Temporary Stay regarding The Nevada Hydro Company, Inc.’s (Nevada Hydro) October 2017 license application for its...more
On December 27, 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) issued a final rule reissuing 40 existing Nationwide Permits (NWPs) with modifications and issuing a new NWP for water reclamation and reuse facilities. The 40...more
On February 17, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) announced two new, significant policies that may have a profound impact on both natural gas pipeline projects before the Commission and the...more
In an August 3 opinion in the case of Vecinos para el Bienestar de la Comunidad Costera et al. v. FERC, Case No. 20-1093, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit determined that the Federal Energy...more
On July 14, 2021, the City and County of Denver, Colorado, acting through its Board of Water Commissioners (“Denver Water”), filed a Complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado, requesting...more
On June 24, 2021, FERC formally issued a public report that outlined its plan to establish the Office of Public Participation (OPP). The report stated that the OPP’s mission is to assist the public in learning about and...more
On March 18, 2021, FERC issued a Final Rule amending its regulations to establish a one-year period for states, tribes, or other certifying authorities (“Certifying Agencies”) to act on a Clean Water Act (“CWA”) Section 401...more
On September 29, 2020, in response to a request for rehearing, FERC issued an order modifying the discussion in, while sustaining the result of, a prior order finding that PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (“PJM”) was not in...more
On September 9, 2020, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) proposing updated regulations that will establish a one-year period for state agencies or other certifying authorities (“Certifying Agencies”) to act...more
9/17/2020
/ Certification Requirements ,
Clean Water Act ,
Energy Projects ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Register ,
FERC ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Navigable Waters ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
Pipelines ,
Public Comment