With the increasing focus on transitioning to clean energy and a low-carbon economy, companies continue to turn to the voluntary carbon markets, purchasing carbon credits to help decarbonize their operations and achieve their...more
FERC recently issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to expand the existing duty of candor rule by adding a requirement in 18 CFR Part 1 that any entity communicating with FERC or other specified organizations related...more
US Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced legislation on July 28, 2022, to provide FERC with the authority to temporarily or permanently ban any person from trading or transacting in...more
FERC initiated show-cause proceedings on April 21, 2022, to investigate the justness and reasonableness of the formula rate protocols of five public utility transmission providers in the West....more
Through its more recent enforcement actions, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) has sent a clear message to the energy industry, with its Office of Enforcement (OE) shifting enforcement efforts...more
A recent district court order highlights the importance of maintaining a strong compliance program with effective compliance controls and practices, while highlighting the risk of employee misconduct for the enterprise...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued show cause orders to two natural pipelines—Rover Pipeline and Midship Pipeline Company—following its December 2021 open meeting, and sent a related dispute involving Midship for...more
The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio held on November 29, 2021, that in actions commenced under 16 USC Section 823b, district courts have the power to decide whether FERC can enforce civil penalties but do...more
President Joseph Biden signed the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the Act) on November 15, 2021, which allocates $550 billion in new spending over the next five years to improve US infrastructure,...more
11/16/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Charging Stations ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Change ,
Cybersecurity ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Energy Sector ,
Hydropower ,
Infrastructure ,
Nuclear Power ,
Popular ,
Power Grid ,
Renewable Energy
The US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a final rule on November 2, 2021 expanding the applicability of the federal pipeline safety regulations to certain...more
In a notice issued on September 29, 2021, FERC stated that it did not act on PJM Interconnection LLC’s (PJM’s) proposed reforms to the application of the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) because the Commissioners are divided...more
In the eight months since Richard Glick took the helm of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), a number of changes to federal regulation of the development of natural gas infrastructure are in the works and several...more
Nearly 200 comments were filed in response to FERC’s February 18, 2021 Notice of Inquiry (NOI) that sought new information and perspectives on whether it should revise its policy statement on the certification of new...more
6/21/2021
/ Determination of Need (DoN) ,
Electricity ,
Eminent Domain ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Impact Statements ,
Environmental Justice ,
FERC ,
Natural Gas ,
Natural Gas Act ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Policy Statement
The US Congress has adopted the first extensive update to US federal energy policies in over a decade in the Energy Act of 2020 (Energy Act), which President Donald Trump signed into law on December 27 as part of the...more
12/30/2020
/ Carbon Capture and Sequestration ,
Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Infrastructure ,
New Legislation ,
Nuclear Power ,
Popular ,
Power Grid ,
Renewable Energy ,
Tax Credits
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) recently released its Annual Report on the Whistleblower Program and Customer Education Initiatives for fiscal year (FY) 2019. The report, which details the operation of the...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed and settled charges on October 24 against Upstream Energy Services LLC (Upstream Energy) for acting as an unregistered futures commission merchant. The Commission’s order...more
President Donald Trump signed a pair of executive orders on October 9 that may limit the impact of an agency’s use of informal guidance documents. The executive orders express concern that agency guidance, which includes...more
On June 14, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit vacated and remanded two challenged orders and directed FERC to explain or reconsider whether data made available after a challenged rate increase becomes effective...more
Currently at issue before the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit is whether the filed rate doctrine prevents a court from assessing the reasonableness of a utility’s rates in the retail market. Under the filed rate...more
FERC issued an order on May 16 rescinding its 2009 policy of issuing Notices of Alleged Violations (NAVs) after the subject of an investigation is given an opportunity to respond to FERC Enforcement Staff’s preliminary...more
A recent policy statement from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) instructs departments and agencies—including independent agencies like FERC—to submit “guidance documents, general statements of policy, and...more
Regional transmission operator PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. recently changed its operating manual to require that generating entities experiencing direct or indirect changes in ownership or control notify PJM of such changes...more
The revisions by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission relate to the Large Generator Interconnection Procedures and Large Generator Interconnection Agreement, and are intended to provide increased certainty and additional...more
The proposed rule recognizes the physical and operational characteristics of electric storage resources and distributed energy resource aggregators and removes barriers to their participation in organized wholesale electric...more
The decision will likely affect the strategies of enforcement targets in electric market manipulation cases.
For the first time, a federal district judge has held that a review of a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s...more
7/29/2016
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Agency Deference ,
Civil Monetary Penalty ,
De Novo Standard of Review ,
Discovery ,
Due Process ,
Electricity ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Sector ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Federal Power Act ,
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ,
FERC ,
Market Manipulation ,
Order to Show Cause