On February 26, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”) issued an Order Initiating Review of Notice of Penalty filed by the North American Reliability Corporation (“NERC”) against Turlock Irrigation District (“Turlock”).  This is the first time that FERC has questioned a penalty issued by NERC. [Read more →]

On February 22, 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it will begin to phase in permit requirements and regulation of greenhouse gases (“GHG”) for large stationary facilities at the start of 2011.  Currently the EPA is scheduled to take action on its first round of GHG regulations under the Clean Air Act (“CAA”) around April 1, 2010.  [Read more →]

On March 1, 2010, Larry Parkinson started work as the new director of the Division of Investigations at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC” or the “Commission”).  As Director of Investigations, Mr. Parkinson will report to Norman Bay, the head of FERC’s Office of Enforcement. [Read more →]

On February 24, 2010, the Department of Energy’s (“DOE”) Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (“Berkeley Lab”) released their report Exploration of Resource and Transmission Expansion Decisions in the Western Renewable Energy Zone Initiative.  The analysis found that $22-$34 billion is needed to build transmission infrastructure in order to meet the West’s 33% renewable energy target. [Read more →]

On February 18, 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (”FERC” or the “Commission”) issued an order granting Google Energy LLC (“Google Energy”) market-based rate authority effective February 23, 2010, finding that Google Energy meets the criteria necessary for a Category 1 seller in all regions. [Read more →]