On March 23, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (the “Second Circuit” or the “Court”) agreed with FERC’s determination that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) had...more
On February 6, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) introduced a proposal that would attempt to restore northwest salmon populations by breaching four dams managed by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) on the Lower Snake...more
On March 5, 2021, FERC issued a Notice of Virtual Listening Sessions and Public Comment Period soliciting input on how it should establish and operate its Office of Public Participation (OPP) pursuant to section 319 of the...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 March 22, 2021, FERC, for the first time, assessed the significance of a proposed natural gas pipeline project’s greenhouse gas emissions (“GHGs”) and their contribution to climate change when it approved Northern Natural...more
On March 18, 2021, FERC issued Order No. 2222-A, setting aside its finding in Order No. 2222 that demand response resource participation in heterogeneous distributed energy resource (“DER”) aggregations are subject to the...more
On February 26, 2021, FERC accepted a proposal from Entergy Services, LLC (“Entergy”) to amend a wholesale rate schedule, the Unit Power Sales Agreement (“UPSA”), subject to refund and set the matter for hearing. FERC also...more
On February 18, 2021, FERC issued two orders terminating the proceedings stemming from the Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) Proposed Rule on Grid Reliability and Resilience (“Proposed Rule”). FERC previously established...more
On February 1, 2021, FERC Chairman Richard Glick announced the appointments of Pamela Quinlan as Acting Chief of Staff and Matt Christiansen as General Counsel....more
On January 19, 2021 FERC issued an order on the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s (“NERC”) compliance filings submitted pursuant to the Commission’s January 2020 order on NERC’s five-year performance...more
Happy new year!
We begin 2021 with a transition of leadership in the Presidency and the U.S. Senate, and with the recent news that President Biden has named Richard Glick as the new FERC Chair. All of these changes in...more
On December 23, 2020, FERC accepted Southwest Power Pool, Inc.’s (“SPP”) proposal to implement the Western Energy Imbalance Service Market (“WEIS Market”), a voluntary market providing for security-constrained economic...more
On December 17, 2020, FERC issued a final rule permitting Solid Oxide Fuel Cell systems with integrated natural gas reformation equipment to be certified as cogeneration qualifying facilities (“QFs”) under the Public Utility...more
On November 19, 2020, FERC issued Opinion No. 569-B, in which it made minor modifications to the discussion in, but largely reaffirmed, its previously-issued Opinion No. 569-A wherein FERC revised its return on equity (“ROE”)...more
On October 30, FERC (under then-Chairman Neil Chatterjee) announced that it planned to convene a roundtable discussion (“Roundtable”) on the increased deployment of electric vehicles (“EVs”) and EV charging infrastructure...more
On October 27, 2020, FERC accepted Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc.’s (“MISO’s”) proposal to require conventional, non-intermittent capacity resources with Energy Resource Interconnection Service (“ERIS”) to...more
On October 20, 2020, Voltus, Inc. (“Voltus”) filed a complaint with FERC against the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (“MISO”) and requested fast track processing pursuant to the Commission’s regulations. The...more
On October 15, 2020, FERC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NOPR”) to revise its regulations implementing the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (“PURPA”) to permit Solid Oxide Fuel Cell systems with...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 17, 2020, FERC issued a final rule (“Order No. 2222”) amending its regulations to require Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (“RTO/ISO”) to revise their tariffs to facilitate the...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
On August 28, 2020, FERC issued a supplemental Notice of a Commission-led Technical Conference on state pricing for carbon dioxide emissions, commonly referred to as carbon pricing, in FERC-jurisdictional wholesale electric...more
9/11/2020
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Carbon Pricing ,
Electricity ,
Electricity Market Reform (EMR) ,
Energy Policy ,
FERC ,
ISOs ,
National Emissions Standards ,
RTO ,
Technical Conference ,
Wholesale
Our lead article this month concerns the Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) long-awaited final rule on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The rule introduces sweeping changes to the NEPA regulations, aimed at...more