The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on December 15, 2022, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to update its regulations governing backstop siting authority for electric transmission projects...more
President Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (the Act) on August 16, 2022, which, among other things, uses the tax code to slow the effects of climate change by significantly investing in clean energy and...more
On April 15, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission supplemented the notice of proposed rulemaking (Supplemental NOPR) for transmission incentives it issued last year (2020 NOPR). In its Supplemental NOPR, FERC...more
In May of 2019, the Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) became law in Washington state and set bold decarbonization and renewable energy mandates for electric utilities. Under CETA, electric utilities in Washington must...more
2/2/2021
/ CETA ,
Clean Energy ,
Compliance ,
Electricity ,
Enforcement ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Investor-Owned Utilities ,
Renewable Energy ,
Renewable Energy Incentives ,
Reporting Requirements ,
State and Local Government ,
State Legislatures ,
Utilities Sector
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission held its first monthly meeting of 2021 on January 19, welcoming new Commissioner Mark Christie to his first meeting and taking on a packed agenda. Some attention has already been paid...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the commission) took numerous actions on April 2, 2020, to ease regulatory burdens across the electricity, natural gas, and oil pipeline industries in response to the COVID-19...more
Taking the next step in its efforts to streamline the environmental review process for projects under federal jurisdiction, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) published proposed regulations on January 10...more
1/14/2020
/ CEQ ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Environmental Assessments ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Review ,
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) ,
NEPA ,
Notice of Intent ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Rulemaking Process
Federal environmental law governing coal ash ponds used by many regulated electric utilities remains uncertain after a flurry of recent activity at the Environmental Protection Agency and in the courts. This update addresses...more
An importer of natural gas from Canada filed suit on February 23, 2018, alleging that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unlawfully denied preferential treatment for its imports under the North American Free Trade...more
3/8/2018
/ Acquisitions ,
Canada ,
Cross-Border ,
De Minimis Claims ,
Importers ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
NAFTA ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Terms and Conditions
In an order issued Monday, January 8, 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission unanimously terminated the rulemaking proceeding it previously initiated in response to a directive issued last fall by U.S. Department of...more
1/12/2018
/ Coal Industry ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Sector ,
FERC ,
ISOs ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oil Prices ,
Power Grid ,
Power Plants ,
Proposed Rules ,
RTO ,
Rulemaking Process
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last week vacated and remanded a 2016 Order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that had authorized construction and operation of the Southeast Market Pipelines...more
8/30/2017
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Agency Deference ,
Appeals ,
Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity ,
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) ,
FERC ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
NEPA ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permits ,
Pipelines ,
Power Plants ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
Sierra Club ,
Standard of Review
President Donald Trump recently signed Executive Order 13783, an omnibus executive order aimed at reducing burdens on further development of domestic energy resources, with “particular attention” to oil, natural gas, coal and...more
4/6/2017
/ Bureau of Land Management ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coal ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fracking ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Resources ,
NEPA ,
Nuclear Power ,
Oil & Gas ,
Petition for Review ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rescission ,
Stays ,
Trump Administration
The senior-most U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia, passed away on February 13, 2016 just days after the Supreme Court, by a slim 5 to 4 majority, stayed the EPA’s enforcement of the Clean Power Plan. Among other...more
On Tuesday, February 9, 2016, only a few weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied a multistate plea to stop the U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan, the United States Supreme Court issued a...more
On August 3, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the final Clean Power Plan, the Obama Administration’s landmark effort to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants...more
8/11/2015
/ Air Pollution ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Energy ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Compliance ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Obama Administration ,
Pollution Control ,
Power Plants
On June 24, 2014, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the Department of Commerce issued two advisory opinions (AOs) allowing for the export from the United States of what was reported to be “unrefined” oil. The...more
Background -
Section 111 of the Clean Air Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to set “new source performance standards” (NSPS) for selected categories of air pollution sources. These standards must...more
On March 15, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has exclusive jurisdiction over natural gas futures contracts and that the Federal...more