Energy Law

FERC Jettisons the Contract Basis of Mobile-Sierra Doctrine

Posted on March 21, 2011
On March 17 a divided FERC (4-1) ruled that the Federal Power and Natural Gas Acts give the regulator discretion to apply to a non-contract rate the Mobile-Sierra doctrine that presumes freely negotiated contract rates and terms are just and reasonable under the Acts unless otherwise shown to be contrary to the public interest...

EPA Announces New GHG Reporting Deadline

Posted on March 17, 2011
EPA has issued a final rule extending the deadline for reporting 2010 data under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting Rule. Affected sources were originally required to report 2010 GHG emissions data by March 31, 2011. Through this final rule, EPA has provided affected sources until September 30, 2011 to submit their data...

Divided FERC Orders Demand Response to Be Paid Same LMP as Generation

Posted on March 16, 2011
Culminating a contentious, yearlong rulemaking, a divided FERC (4-to-1) in Order No. 475 selected locational marginal pricing (LMP) for compensating a demand-response (DR) resource that participates in organized wholesale energy markets that regional transmission organizations or independent system operators (RTO/ISO) administer...

FERC Balks at WSPP Proposal to Expand Market Pricing of Member Sales of Ancillary Services

Posted on March 15, 2011
FERC recently shot down the WSPP Inc.’s proposal to win for its members the authority to sell certain ancillary electric services (reserves and imbalance service) at market prices on par with sellers operating within a FERC-approved regional transmission organization or independent system operator (RTO/ISO)...

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EPA to Defer Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Deadline

Posted on March 01, 2011
On March 1, EPA announced that it will be deferring the requirement to submit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reports under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule (MRR).  The MRR imposed a reporting deadline of March 31, 2011 for many sectors of industry to submit greenhouse gas emissions data collected in 2010...

Court Rules PJM Capacity Market Prices Adequately Protected from Seller Market Power, but Others Contend Not Protected from Buyer Market Power

Posted on February 11, 2011
PJM capacity prices were just and reasonable in 2007 and 2008 ¾ the first years for which PJM?s FERC-approved Reliability Pricing Model (RPM) auction set capacity prices.  So ruled a unanimous panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in a February 8 decision...

Energy Conference Examines Uncertainty Surrounding GHG Permitting and BACT Standards

Posted on February 09, 2011
In a recent energy industry conference in Houston, EPA Region 6 Regional Administrator Dr. Al Armendariz and Bracewell & Giuliani partner Jeff Holmstead (who headed EPA’s Air Office under the Bush Administration) discussed EPA’s new greenhouse gas (GHG) permitting requirements...

For the First Time, a Court Sanctions Disgorgement Remedy for Sherman Act Violation

Posted on February 09, 2011
On February 2, 2011, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a Final Judgment relating to a settlement reached with KeySpan Corporation (“KeySpan”) of a Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Complaint regarding certain activity allegedly engaged in by KeySpan in the electric generating capacity markets in New York City (the [...

Divided Court Disconnects DOE Transmission Corridors

Posted on February 08, 2011
On February 1, two members of a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the Department of Energy?s (DOE) October 2007 designation of two National Interest Electric Transmission (NIET) corridors,  within which Congress, in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), authorized the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) [...

More Industry Fallout from Gasland Oscar Nomination?

Posted on February 07, 2011
Matt Armstrong appears on Platts Energy Week to discuss the potential impact of the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland on the natural gas industry, regulatory responses to shale production, and the evolving strategic communications strategies of gas producers.

PJM Authorized to Offer Two New Demand Products in Forward Capacity Market

Posted on February 02, 2011
This week FERC approved a PJM proposal to establish two new demand resource (DR) products for the PJM forward capacity market, which is conducted under the Reliability Pricing Model (RPM).  PJM holds one Base Residual Auction (BRA) and up to three incremental auctions yearly to procure capacity for a future delivery year under the RPM...

FERC Approves Settlement of Conditional Firm Transmission Service Dispute

Posted on January 31, 2011
On January 20, 2011, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order accepting 12 conditional long-term firm point-to-point transmission service agreements between PacifiCorp and Columbia Energy Partners (CEP).  This order, and these service agreements, concluded a two-year long dispute between PacifiCorp and CEP over the appropriate level and character of service to be provided [...

When the Public Will Learn that You Are the Target of a FERC Enforcement

Posted on January 26, 2011
Public disclosure that FERC plans to launch an enforcement action will continue to take the form of a Preliminary Notice of violation from the Director of FERC’s Office of Enforcement, which will not issue until after the target has been (1) presented with a letter from the Enforcement Staff detailing its preliminary findings of a [...

Position Limits Rule Would Limit Swap Positions

Posted on January 26, 2011
Exercising new authority Congress conferred on it in the Dodd Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), in a January 13 rulemaking proposal the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) proposes to impose limit on holdings of certain derivatives, including swaps linked to energy commodity prices...

California and Midwest Orders Indicate FERC Disposed to Open Transmission to Competition and Spread the Costs of Transmission Broadly

Posted on December 20, 2010
In December 16 orders approving changes in how the California and Midwest Independent System Operators (ISO) plan transmission, FERC seems to preview how it intends to resolve two critically important and controversial questions that it put in play in a pending September 2010 notice of proposed rulemaking on transmission planning and cost allocation (Transmission Planning [...

SEC Proposes Rule Requiring Oil, Gas and Mining Companies to Disclose Payments to Governments

Posted on December 16, 2010
Under a rule proposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, oil, gas and mining companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges would be required to disclose payments they made to foreign governments or the United States government in connection with a broad swath of activity, from exploration to oil processing...

Self-Reporting Pays: Lessons from FERC Enforcement Year in Review

Posted on December 10, 2010
In a November 18 annual report on FERC enforcement actions, the agency?s Enforcement Staff disclosed the outcomes of those actions, including those that the agency took in response to 93 self-reports of violations.  The clear message from this annual recap is that prompt self-reporting pays big dividends...

Regulators Propose Definitions that Will Determine the Scope of Their Regulation of Swaps and Security-Based Swaps

Posted on December 09, 2010
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on December 8, 2010, jointly proposed rules to define “swap dealer,” “security-based swap dealer,” “major swap participant,” “major security-based swap participant,” and “eligible contract participant” as these terms are used in amendments to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and Securities Exchange Act of [...

ERCOT Launches Long-Awaited Texas Nodal Market

Posted on December 08, 2010
On December 1, 2010, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) began operation of its long-planned nodal wholesale market.  This market has been in the works since September, 2003 when the Public Utility Commission of Texas directed ERCOT to replace its handful of congestion management zones, or CMZs, with what would develop into a congestion [...

New Congress Expected to Meet Pent Up Demand for Energy Oversight

Posted on November 17, 2010
Pent up demand for oversight on both sides of the political aisle will drive a trend for renewed Congressional oversight in the upcoming term in 2011, notably in the energy and environmental sectors. In a recent video interview, Scott Segal, head of the Government Relations and Strategic Communications practices at Bracewell & Giuliani in Washington, [...

What?s in Store for Energy in DC?: A Post-Election Analysis

Posted on November 05, 2010
Today, Bracewell & Giuliani’s government relations team issued its analysis of the 2010 mid-term elections. While the analysis covers a broad range of topics of interest to business and manufacturing, the presentation singles out key areas within the energy sector, including energy and environmental policy, industrial owners and operators, offshore energy development and renewable energy...

FERC Settlement of Manipulation Claims in PJM Region

Posted on November 01, 2010
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or “Commission”) released an Order Approving Stipulation and Consent Agreement involving North America Power Partners (“NAPP”) in Docket No. IN09-6.  The matters considered in the Order related to NAPP’s participation as a Curtailment Service Provider in the PJM Interconnection L...

FERC Tightens Credit Practices in Organized Markets

Posted on October 26, 2010
A final rule that tightens and standardizes credits practices for organized wholesale electricity markets ? independent system operators (ISO) and regional transmission organizations (RTO) ? was issued by FERC October 21. To comply with the credit practices prescribed in the new rule, ISOs and RTOs will have to amend their open-access tariffs to: (i) shorten [...

Appeals Court Recognizes Capacity Factor Defense to Clean Air Act Permitting

Posted on October 22, 2010
As applied to a major modification made to a cycling or peaking ? as opposed to a baseload ? power plant, a three-judge panel of the US Court Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in United States v. Cinergy Corp. ruled inadmissible the Environmental Protection Agency’s customary Clean Air Act (CAA) measure to determine whether the [...

Court Overturns Offshore Drilling Rules Provided in NTL-05

Posted on October 20, 2010
Federal Judge Martin Feldman of the Eastern District of Louisiana issued a decision on October 19, 2010 overturning the Department of Interior’s (DOI) notice to lessees No. 2010-05 (“NTL-05″).  Ensco Offshore Co v. Salazar, No. 10-1941 (E...

With Deepwater Drilling Moratorium Removed, Drillers Could Face De Facto Moratorium

Posted on October 13, 2010
Secretary Salazar and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) Director Bromwich lifted the deepwater drilling moratorium on October 12, 2010 and declared the Department of the Interior ”open for business.” While the moratorium may officially have been lifted, deepwater drillers could face the same predicament as shallow water drillers ? a de facto drilling [...

Western Price Caps Aligned

Posted on October 12, 2010
FERC has raised the price cap in Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) spot power markets from $400/MWh to $750/MWh, aligning it with the bid cap in place for the California Independent System Operator Corporation (CAISO) spot markets.  FERC also ordered that the WECC cap climb to $1000/MWh on April 1, 2011, when the CAISO price [...

Salazar Creates New Revenue Collections and Auditing Office

Posted on October 10, 2010
Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar launched on October 1 the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR). This new office, which used to be called Minerals Revenue Management (MRM) and was part of the former Minerals Management Service (MMS), will be relocated to another part of the Department, will keep the same staff, and just [...

Details of OCS Interim Final Rule Released

Posted on October 08, 2010
In the wake of the Macondo blowout, on May 27, 2010, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar issued a report to President Obama, providing numerous recommendations intended to improve the safety of offshore oil and gas drilling operations on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) (the “Safety Measures Report”)...

BOEMRE?s Final SEMS Rule Substantially Modifies the Original Proposal, Inviting Legal Challenge

Posted on October 06, 2010
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) announced a final Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) rule on September 30, 2010.  The Minerals Management Service (MMS) originally proposed a SEMS rule in a Federal Register notice published on June 17, 2009...

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