The US Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources has advanced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, a bipartisan energy bill that would facilitate permitting for energy infrastructure and mining projects....more
The US federal government’s evolving role in overseeing transmission development took another leap forward after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Orders 1920 and 1977, two new rules that mark FERC’s...more
Protecting critical infrastructure has become a national security priority. On March 2, 2023, the Biden administration released the National Cybersecurity Strategy, a far-reaching document that sets forth its vision for the...more
At its December 2021 open meeting, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) approved new rules to improve utilization of the transmission system by redefining “transmission line rating” to account for...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
US congressional Democrats released the latest version of H.R. 5376—better known as the Build Back Better Act—late last week, hoping to advance a $1.85 trillion spending package after months of deadlock. The release of the...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
The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) has submitted 10 nominees to FERC to serve on the newly formed Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission. Last month in Docket No. AD21-15,...more
FERC issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANOPR) in Docket No. RM21-17, seeking comment on the potential need for reform of Commission regulations necessary to improve regional transmission planning and cost...more
After severe winter weather forced Texas into experiencing power outages and rolling blackouts, there will likely be resulting federal and state investigations into the outages, federal investigations into commodity and...more
2/18/2021
/ CFTC ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Futures ,
Government Investigations ,
Natural Gas ,
NERC ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Power Grid ,
Reliability Standards ,
Severe Weather ,
Storm Damage
In May 2020, US President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13920, banning the unrestricted import or use of certain categories of bulk-power system electric equipment from foreign adversaries, with a focus on Russian and...more
2/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
China ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Energy (DOE) ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Reform ,
Executive Orders ,
Imports ,
Infrastructure ,
Public Procurement Policies ,
Russia ,
Supply Chain ,
Trump Administration
In an expected move, President Joe Biden has designated Commissioner Richard Glick as the new FERC Chairman. Chairman Glick takes over from Commissioner James Danly, whose term as Chairman lasted less than three months....more
The US Senate has confirmed the nominations of Mark Christie (R) and Allison Clements (D) to fill the remaining Republican and Democratic vacant seats on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. These confirmations restore...more
Under Order No. 2222, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission hopes to “usher in the electric grid of the future” by opening wholesale markets to distributed energy resource aggregations. ...more
FERC has issued an order extending the blanket waivers of all requirements to hold meetings in person and/or to provide or obtain notarized documents in open-access transmission tariffs through January 29, 2021....more
8/26/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Emergency Management Plans ,
FERC ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Infrastructure ,
Oil & Gas ,
Regulatory Requirements ,
Relief Measures ,
Tariffs ,
Transmission Grid ,
Waivers
FERC has issued a final rule, Order No. 872, revising the Commission’s regulations governing qualifying small power producers and co-generators (collectively, qualifying facilities or QFs) under the Public Utility Regulatory...more
The latest action by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission dismisses an advocacy group’s request that FERC assert jurisdiction over net-metering transactions on procedural grounds, leaving important legal and...more
A decision by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on June 30 rejected the near routine use by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of tolling orders to prevent rehearing requests from being denied by operation of...more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Order 569-A on May 21, significantly revising the methodology used to analyze the base return on equity (ROE) of a public utility’s rates under the Federal Power Act....more
FERC issued a proposal on May 21 to modify its policy regarding requests for waiver of public utility tariff provisions that are subject to FERC’s review and approval under the Federal Power Act and the Natural Gas Act....more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a notice on May 20 that it will convene a Commissioner-led technical conference to consider the ongoing, serious impacts that the emergency conditions caused by the...more
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on May 1 declaring that the use of bulk-power system equipment supplied by companies controlled by certain foreign nations poses an extraordinary threat to the US power grid....more
A nonprofit advocacy group recently asked FERC to overturn a policy that has been in effect for more than a decade and assert jurisdiction over energy sales from rooftop solar facilities and other distributed generation...more
In an order issued on April 17, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) agreed to defer implementation of certain cybersecurity and operational reliability standards administered by the North American Electric...more
The US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued Version 3.0 of its guidance on April 17 on identifying essential critical infrastructure workers amid the coronavirus...more